


The Start of the Storm

by Moonlight Mist (MisteryMaiden)



Series: There Be Demons Among Us [1]
Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Black Organization (Meitantei Conan), Death in general, Gen, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Kudou Shinichi | Edogawa Conan & Mouri Ran Friendship, Temporary Character Death, Thief Kuroba Kaito | Kaitou Kid, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, This is Shinichi we're talking about
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:29:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 33,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25690600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MisteryMaiden/pseuds/Moonlight%20Mist
Summary: Kuroba Kaito had never believed in magic until he met the witch Koizumi Akako. She isn't the only magic that he finds invading his life now.Kudo Shinichi, also known as Edogawa Conan, is trying to figure out what's going on in his life now. If it wasn't enough that he was reliving his childhood he has to deal with this.
Series: There Be Demons Among Us [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1863004
Comments: 2
Kudos: 40





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I've been writing this for a little while. I've reached over 30,000 words just of this single version of this idea (I have two others that I may post one day or may just remain on my computer until the end of time, who knows). Because of this, I've decided that I might as well post it since I had a really good start on it.
> 
> Chapter length is going to be all over the place, ya'll. I didn't plan chapters into this so they've ended where I felt like it would make the most sense to me. One might be 8,000 words while another might be only 3,000. I can't commit to a set update schedule, as I have college classes and a job. I'm going to aim for once a month at least. 
> 
> At the moment, I'm pretty sure there's going to be more than one fic in this universe, so I've created a series for it. That might include one-shots, things that don't fit in main chapters, or even a compilation of all the excerpts that didn't make it in (possibly including versions 1 and 2). I don't know honestly, it'll depend on if enough of you are interested in that as well as how many deleted scenes I'm going to include in this. I've only done a compilation fic for a series once before so this is still new territory for me.
> 
> Hope you all enjoy this fic!
> 
> ~MisteryMaiden~

There wasn’t a big fight with the organization that killed his father, or a heist gone wrong, or anything that would have been memorable.

In fact, the night before had simply been dinner with Aoko and Hakuba. The two had grown closer over the past year and were decent enough friends now. Kaito couldn’t say that he was happy about that, though the teenage detective had been a lot more willing to let Kaito being Kaitou KID go more often. It had been grating on everyone’s nerves in the last few months.

It was extremely nice to get a single conversation off with the detective without having to deny accusations of being a Phantom Thief. Which he very much was, of course. KID was just another face that Kaito wore nowadays, a new poker face created in order to bring those who sought Pandora and killed his father to justice. That he sometimes busted other criminals who did harm was a bonus.

A bonus that seemed to have been changing Hakuba’s tune a bit, lately. The blond detective had seemed very much intrigued by KID after the Singapore incident. Thankfully, it seemed that no one had figured out that he’d nabbed the chibi-tantei for that, so there weren’t any complaints of kidnapping ending up on his already long list of crimes. He suspected that Kudo hadn’t really been as upset about that as he probably should have been. Should Kaito be worried that he’d barely reacted to being kidnapped and smuggled across country borders? Shouldn’t being knocked out and kidnapped be at least a _little_ more concerning to the shrunken teenager than it had been? He was more distressed at the idea of being stuck in Singapore than he was at ending _up_ in Singapore against his will.

(Somewhere in Australia, Kudo Yukiko sneezed. Her husband, Kudo Yusaku, handed her a tissue. After a moment to make sure that was the only one, the two climbed out the window of their hotel room on the fifth floor, escaping the editors that had finally tracked down their room number by mere minutes.)

There was also a good chance that Kudo had taken pity on him after the chaos Mouri Ran had caused at the airport. Kaito didn’t know whether to be annoyed or amused that Mouri-san could tell when it was him versus when it was Kudo nowadays. He blamed the fact that it was just so easy to disguise as the detective. Either way, he’d have to keep that disguise on the backburner for a while. It wasn’t like Kudo was the only person he resembled closely enough to full airport scanners in Japan. He was just the most hilarious to pose as.

(It had nothing to do with the fact that Edogawa Conan was his favorite critic. Really.)

None of this had to do with his current situation, however. Kaito grimaced as he pulled his thoughts back to what was happening in the present, vainly hoping that it had just been a trick of the light.

Nope, still there. Kaito sighed, the sound coming out of his newly formed _beak_ as a soft chirp.

Somehow, for some reason, Kaito had woken up this morning to find himself a _bird._ A rather large bird at that.

If it hadn’t been a holiday break for school, Kaito would have been in trouble when Aoko showed up to yell at him for skipping. Since his childhood friend and neighbor was currently in Tropical Land with her female friends and a reluctant Hakuba, Kaito was safe enough to panic about his current situation in peace.

People didn’t just turn into birds in their sleep, in his experience. Sure, he’d seen the odd happening in the last year or so that he was the Kaitou KID. A teenager walking around as a child, a man who could hypnotize pretty much anyone, a _robot_ taking his place, and let’s not get him started on Akako. If the witch hadn’t been on vacation herself, Kaito would have placed money on her being behind all of this. Since she was currently on some sort of magical sabbatical (no, he had not asked), then Kaito was pretty sure it wasn’t her behind all of this.

That left him as a large bird with no suspects as to the cause.

Worse, he had a heist tomorrow night. He couldn’t exactly attend a heist as a bird! He had no desire to become someone’s lab rat or to end up in some zoo. From what he could tell, Kaito wasn’t exactly a native bird to Japan. In fact, he looked like some sort of eagle with a crown on his head made of feathers. Behind the crown were longer feathers that flowed across his back. He had a similar set up with his tail feathers. Among the condensed tail feathers with longer, more flowing feathers that didn’t seem to have any use in flight navigation. Honestly, Kaito had never seen anything like himself before in any of the books on predatory birds around the world that his mother had sent him as joke presents from her trips. And he was _white_ on top of that.

The closest he could think of to himself was the African Crowned Eagle and that wasn’t right, either. For one, he was a lot bigger than they were supposed to be. If Kaito’s estimated were right, then he was about a meter tall and had a wingspan of 3 meters. Not exactly a small bird. More interestingly, he didn’t seem to weigh all that much considering his size. In fact, he seemed to be lighter now than he was as a human, which made little to no sense to the magician. The coloring almost was a secondary complaint.

Nothing about this made sense, honestly.

Kaito sighed. He’d been planning on casing out his heist location today. Nakamori had invited him down to see if he couldn’t get a magician’s perspective on the traps set for KID. The irony of that, even after all this time, still made him snort.

He couldn’t exactly go as a bird, either. There had to be a way to change back, Kaito just needed to figure out-

Before he could finish the thought, a blinding flash of white light filled the room, forcing him to close his eyes. When he opened them again, he was human.

Thief blinked at the room around him, staring down at his very much human hands. The only sign that he’d ever been a bird was a single white feather on the floor beneath him. A feather that was nearly as long as his forearm.

Kaito stared.

This was not how he’d thought the day would go at all.

* * *

The time of his heist came and went without another sign of a single new feather that didn’t belong to one of his doves. In fact, if Kaito hadn’t had that feather left behind as proof, the magician would have thought he had dreamed the entire thing as a result of getting hit by one of his own gasses. Since he did have a feather testifying to the bizarre reality that Kaito had temporarily been a _bird_ , the magician was forced to accept this new reality that he had found himself in.

For a week straight after that strange day spent as a bird, Kaito kept a sharp eye on anything that could be perceived as ‘weird’ with him. For the first day after the heist was over, there hadn’t been a single instance of anything being amiss with him.

Then he snagged his hand on one of the kitchen knives the next night while cooking dinner. He’d stupidly allowed his thoughts to drift away from his appointed task and hadn’t noticed with the rather sharp implement moved dangerously close to his skin. Kaito had cursed up a storm, grumbling and doing his best to staunch the wound with a towel that was kept in the kitchen for just this purpose.

Kaito had never been good at keeping himself focused on mundane tasks like cooking, which was why he tried to avoid it when possible. Whenever his mother was around, she was the primary cook in the Kuroba household, leaving all the baking to her son. Baking was one of the few culinary tasks Kaito never grew bored with. The different types of sweets always called for his complete attention, no matter how interesting an idea for a trick that popped into his head was.

Chopping potatoes had never been high on his list of enjoyable activities, so his brain had wandered off to much more intriguing tasks.

Needless to say, Kaito ended up with a bleeding hand at least once every few weeks, as he forgot his last lesson on what a wandering mind could cause.

That didn’t mean that each new reminder didn’t hurt like hell. Hand cuts were the worst, honestly. There was just never a good place for them where they wouldn’t be stretched by the smallest of movements. It would be a few weeks before Kaito would be able to risk a heist as well. Any impairment of his hands could cause his capture.

Hakuba was going to insufferable as Kaitou KID failed to make a reappearance until after Kuroba Kaito’s cut had healed completely. It happened every time this occurred. Even having Jii-chan pull a heist during that time had never shut the blond up. Probably, Kaito grumbled to himself, because Jii just wasn’t up to the same skill level that Kaito was when it came to magic. The old man was good, don’t get Kaito wrong. There was a reason that Jii had been a magician’s assistant instead of a magician himself, however. That was why Kaito tended to call the shots when it came to what magic they would pull off for the heist instead of it being decided by Jii, who was the much more experienced of them.

It was a result of a childhood spent perfecting his body for the job of a magician. Voice lessons that gave him the right range to impersonate anyone within hearing. Skills of picking locks, just in case the special mechanism hidden for magicians within them became unusable. His father had spent the years he was alive teaching Kaito everything he possibly could, with the young child soaking it up like a sponge.

That was why it had taken Kaito’s planning to pull off walking on air as he had with the Blue Wonder. It was why Kaito could escape Aoko’s clutches to go to a heist without her noticing. Why there was a single trick in the basics that Kaito hadn’t been able to modify into something _grand_.

Kuroba Kaito was good at his chosen profession as both a thief and a magician. Kaitou KID was considered to be one of the best magicians in the world. A reputation that was based on _Kaito’s_ tricks, not just carried over from his father’s time as KID. One of the main reasons that no one besides Hakuba had ever really looked at him as the prime suspect behind the monocle. The theories of his actual age based on the amount of skill he showed when it came to magic was in his forties.

That little fact is what kept Snake and his men from targeting Kaito and his mother when KID reappeared. Very, very few people would believe the infamous magician was a teenager.

As Kaito staunch the wound, he allowed his mind drift back to the schematics for his next trick, the original reason that he’d been distracted in the first place. It needed some work, that was for sure, but Kaito thought that with Jii-chan’s engineering capabilities and Kaito’s own input would be enough to make it plausible.

Not to mention the idea of Tantei-kun’s face at the sight of it in action made the extra pain he was sure to face that much sweeter and deserved. If Kaito was going to risk soccer ball to the face just by showing up, the thief might as well earn the bruises the teenaged child would give him.

Worth it, Kaito grinned, turning his attention back to his hand. The pain was still there, that was for sure, but there wasn’t any new blood spreading across the injury towel. Kaito left it there a minute more, making sure that there were no more signs that had hidden themselves from his first inspection.

No, definitely done bleeding.

Kaito carefully removed the towel, wanting to get a good look at the damage done before he cleaned the wound. Depending on how deep it was, he might have to get stitches. Those would be a _pain_ to clean up, that was for sure.

Except there was no wound beneath the now drying blood. None of the flesh that Kaito knew had been torn apart was harmed, leaving only smooth skin under fresh blood.

“What.”

Kaito’s eyes flickered to the knife, trying to make sure that there wasn’t some sort of sign that Kaito had been hallucinating the blood.

No, there was still blood flaking off onto the counter and on the knife’s blade and it was drying faster than anything Kaito had ever seen. It usually took _forever_ for blood to dry. Kaito had always hated it when blood dropped anywhere in the house due to it being his job to clean up the messes that occurred. Even when his mother was home, which tended to be rare, it was still his job to clean up any blood. Kaito had the suspicion that this was to keep him in the habit of getting rid of the stuff, even before he had officially picked up his father’s mantle of Kaitou KID.

Which was why he’d never protested the job. That and protesting anything his mother wanted him to do tended to be a futile effort on his part.

“Okay, this is fine,” Kaito said to himself, trying to keep the panic in his chest from rising. “What’s a little thing like disappearing wounds. I’ve seen weirder before, right?”

Except _seeing_ weirder didn’t mean he usually experienced weirder. Kaito had never been the sole participant in the weirder side of life. Usually it was because of Akako or Tantei-kun, not because Kaito couldn’t chop potatoes without getting distracted. There wasn’t even anyone here that could have caused his wound to heal like that.

His mother was currently in Spain, if he remembered correctly. Jii-chan was still of visiting an old friend. Aoko was currently having a slumber party with all her female friends and Akako was on sabbatical for another two days, ruling them out.

Hakuba didn’t even bear mentioning.

That left it as something that Kaito had done. Since the last strange event that had taken place around the teen was when he’d turned into an unidentifiable bird-eagle thing, Kaito had to conclude that this new healing was related to that. The magician highly doubted that two different magical events would take place this close together without being related. Coincidence should only be considered after all other possibilities are ruled out. A strangely Sherlock Holmes mentality, Kaito admitted, though that didn’t make it any less accurate.

Especially considering that Kaito attended school with a witch who performed actual magic that wasn’t Kaito’s preferred sleight-of-hand.

The thief debated going to the witch for a moment. Akako was supposed to be coming back from her sabbatical sometime this week. Kaito was pretty sure if he was careful enough, he could probably trick a straight answer out of her.

That meant a longer waiting period until Kaito found out answers. Without knowing just what was happening, Kaito wouldn’t be able to continue on as normal. That meant a long period between now and his next heist. If he stayed inactive too long, there was a chance Snake and his men might decide it meant he’d found Pandora.

If they decided to go after Kaito and his mom because of the false belief, Kaito wasn’t sure that either of them would survive. His mother might be the Phantom Lady, that didn’t mean that she could dodge bullets. They wouldn’t be able to hide forever if they survived the assassination attempts, either.

So no, going to Akako was not a good plan.

Kaito growled a little underneath his breath. Akako was the only one that he knew was connected to the supernatural. He night not trust her, not really, yet he could count on her to at least give him some sort of hint or help. She tended to be more fond of him than murderous recently. A change that Kaito wasn’t willing to question since it meant she tried to steal his free will less.

That still left him standing in the kitchen of his house with no idea what was going on or how to find answers.

“Figures,” the thief grumbled.

As soon as he was done disposing what was covered in blood, Kaito abandoned cooking for a quicker meal. If he was on his own about this, Kaito was going to have to approach this the same way that he approached any unknown as Kaitou KID.

It was time to do some research.

* * *

Edogawa Conan was confused the first time that he noticed the differences.

It had started simple enough, barely enough for it to strike his attention. If Ayumi hadn’t pointed it out, Conan doubted he would have ever made the connection to the stranger events that were happening around him.

Conan was detecting death.

That wasn’t just a reference to the dead bodies that seemed to follow him everywhere, either. He was talking about the actual event just before it happened. Before the body hit the ground of the first screams sound, Conan had been finding himself already running towards the area of the murder. He wasn’t sure how long it had been going on either. Really, if Ayumi had never said anything, Conan didn’t think he would have ever noticed.

He was just so used to running towards the dead that it had never registered as being odd to his mind before now.

It was two weeks after that which had Conan becoming a tad nervous.

His sense of smell had increased to an inhuman point. It hadn’t happened gradually, as his new death sense did. No, one morning Conan had just woken up able to smell everything. Otchan, Ran, the café downstairs, even the stale beer stain that had been there since Shinichi had been 12 had the faint scent of beer to his new sense.

It was maddening. There were just so many different scents everywhere that bombarded his nose at all hours of the day.

Then the first body dropped, and the scent had nearly sent Conan running off to vomit. By the second body, the murder killed by their intended target after the first attempt killed the wrong person, Conan had to force himself to get close enough to the body to find clues. The smell had nearly made him miss a vital clue, distracting him from the case.

Thoroughly spoked, Conan had gone straight to Haibara, afraid that this was a new side effect of the poison that shrunk him. Maybe even a side effect of the cures he’d taken to temporarily regain his teenage form.

(Yes, Conan was aware that he sounded like some strange shapeshifter. That didn’t make it any less of an accurate statement.)

‘There’s nothing wrong with you,” Haibara frowned at him, looking concerned. “Are there any other symptoms besides your sense of smell?”

Conan shook his head, not wanting to go into the ‘can tell someone is about to die before they have died’ thing. Haibara would either believe him or think he’d lost it. Conan wasn’t sure which one would be the worst option. If she believed him then that meant the theory had merit. If she laughed, it might be just in his head and Shinichi had finally lost it.

Haibara looked pensive, something that Conan was not happy to see. “I can’t find anything wrong with you, Kudo. There’s nothing in the blood work to suggest that you should be experience these changes. All your levels look the same as they did the last time I took blood.”

“That somehow does not make me feel better,” the teen sighed. “I was hoping that you could tell me what this was.”

Haibara almost looked guilty. It wasn’t often that she didn’t have the answers. “I wish I knew,” the scientist looked at the computer screen again. “Perhaps this is just a new side effect caused by the number of temporary cures you’ve tried. There is a chance that I am not experiencing these as I have not returned to my adult form as often as you have. I did warn you that there could be consequences.”

“You don’t think that’s it,” Conan said, leaning forward as he watched her. “Haibara, what do you know?”

The scientist looked away from him again, biting her lip. It was an expression that Conan wasn’t used to seeing on her face. She looked back at him again. “Nothing for sure. A hypothesis that I can’t test for yet. It could be nothing.”

Conan watched her face, taking in her uncharacteristic nervousness. “Alright,” he finally said. “I trust you. When will you be able to test for it?”

The other shrunken child relaxed, her eyes fixing to his. “If a new symptom appears, then I can test for it. If it is what I think it is, then there’ll be signs in your next blood work. Until then, I will keep looking into the temporary cures to rule them out completely.”

Two possible angles in case one proved wrong. Conan really hope that this wasn’t going to be a permanent change.

As good as Ran’s perfume smelled and as useful a keen sense of smell could be, Conan really didn’t like the fact that he could smell decay on the corpses they ran into now. Not just decay, either. The scent of death was putrid, nearly gagging him with its noxious scent. Conan couldn’t even figure out what was causing the scent, either. It always appeared the moment that a body dropped as if the mere act of dying was enough to flood the room.

The rest of the visit was spent in silence, as Haibara took a few more samples and ran a test on his new sense. Conan was pretty sure that he’d never sneezed so much in one sitting in his entire life.

The result of the test had Haibara’s pensive expression making its return. Whatever the scientist had gotten from the results, she wasn’t happy about it.

Conan returned to the Mouri Detective Agency with more questions and not a single answer.

* * *

Haibara didn’t say a single word about the matter after that day and Conan kept his own silence. The smells remained the same, though Conan was better able to ignore his nose as time went on. After a week, he even managed to start identifying the smells of the people closest to him. A single change in the wind direction could tell him whether or not someone he knew was approaching him.

Ran smelled like salt and sakura blossoms, a result of the different soaps she used. There was also a hint of something else hidden behind those smell, a scent that was uniquely her own. Otchan smelled like beer, cigars, and a heavy musk with no name. Haibara smelled of disinfectant and plants, no other scent peaking through. It was the same with Genta (eel and rice), Mitsuhiko (books and grass), and Ayumi (lavender and mint, strangely enough). They all lack a defining smell underneath those that belonged to the world around them.

It was two weeks after the change that Conan’s improved nose saved him from being brained by a criminal sneaking up behind him. The wind had shifted, bringing the scent of predator and human male to him. He’d dodged the blow by the millimeters. A soccer ball to the face took care of the man and the police took him off in cuffs for attempted assault.

(One day, Conan was going to look into the fact that no one seemed to wonder how the man was knocked out in the first place. Seeing as Conan, an apparent seven-year-old child, had been the only one on-site, there should have been more questions. Questions that the police seemed to have stopped asking, though he couldn’t pinpoint when the change had occurred.)

Three days later, Conan kicked a normal soccer ball with normal shoes against a wall. The brick cracked underneath the force.

Conan spent a good hour staring at the crack with the real beginnings of fear. He spent that night trying to figure out if he should take this new development to Haibara or pretend that it was just a fever dream.

The next day, Conan had been forced to hide his head underneath a pillow as noise threatened to flatten him to the floor. Otchan had called him into school sick when he’d tried talking to Conan and had only gotten a whimper in response.

(“Extreme migraine,” Otchan explained quietly in the other room. “I tried talking to him and he nearly cried. I don’t know if he’ll be in tomorrow either.”

“I understand,” the woman on the other end said, voice nearly just as clear. “We’ve had a student develop them in the past. If it continues past tomorrow, we’ll need you to bring in a doctor’s notice to put on file and pick up his missed classwork. Conan is a smart boy, I don’t think missing a few days will put him behind.”)

When Otchan left on a case-a simple tailing case to discover if the husband was cheating or not-Conan called Haibara.

Softly explaining everything, Haibara remained quiet for a long time after he was done.

“I’ll be right over,” she said, hanging up the phone.

She must have ridden the skateboard over as she was walking into the agency ten minutes later, no sign of Agasa. She took one look at his pale face and closed her eyes. “I need to take a blood sample,” she said.

Conan didn’t press her for details, just holding out his arm. A few vials later, Haibara was exiting the agency. She’d left pain killers with instructions as the only sign of her visit.

Conan took one and happily slept the rest of the day away

* * *

The next day the migraine had turned into a mere headache, for which Conan was eternally thankful. He played up the feeling better thing enough that Otchan called the school and let them know he’d be back in tomorrow. They were keeping him home today just in case he had a relapse. It was strangely parent like of the old man. Almost like when he and Ran were young before Obasan and Otchan divorced.

Either way, Conan was left to his own devices as Otchan went out on his case again. It turned out the man wasn’t cheating on his wife, but planning a surprise anniversary dinner in honor of the day they first met. He’d offered to pay Kogoro to keep quiet until tomorrow, so Otchan was going out to run interference with the wife.

It was a strangely sweet case, which was rare.

Haibara, who had been called in by Agasa-hakase, called a few minutes later. She had the results back from his blood, collected the day before.

Ready for answers, Conan pulled on a hat to keep the light in his eyes to a minimum (he wasn’t anxious for a repeat of yesterday) and walked over to Agasa’s house. It was slower than the skateboard would be. He wasn’t willing to risk the chance of crashing if his headache intensified, judging that walking would probably be for the best at the moment.

Hakase was currently at a science convention for the next few days. Haibara had originally been planning on going with, changing her mind when he’d called her the day before. Conan appreciated that she had been willing to stay behind. He knew that she loved those conventions just as much as Hakase did.

He found her in the basement lab. She was in her lab coat, typing away on her computer. “Aa,” he greeted shortly, pulling the cap down further to block out the lights above. “Ohayo, Haibara.”

She stiffened at his greeting, turning to stare with intense eyes. “Kudo-kun,” she said. The shortness and tone told him that he wasn’t going to like whatever it was that she’d found.

“Hit me with it,” Conan sighed, rubbing at his temples. “What’s going on with me?”

Haibara closed the window on her computer and pulled up another. “Take a look at this,” she said instead of answering.

Used to this, Conan moved towards her, eyes focused on the screen. He frowned as he got closer and the image became more visible. Unlike what Conan had thought, this was not blood work, or not any blood work that he’d ever seen before. For one, there were not just white and red blood cells, there was also golden blood cells that glittered, even on the screen. There was also something else, not blood cells, but a purple organism that he couldn’t recognize.

“What am I looking at?” he asked, trepidation starting to stir within him.

“You’re looking at your blood sample. The purple is the apotoxin,” Haibara looked back at the screen. “It’s begun to clump together in your bloodstream. The first sample I took from you yesterday had only one of these clumps. By the second sample, from your left arm, there were sixteen. Your body is somehow drawing the poison together.”

“Is that dangerous?” Conan asked, eyes never leaving the screen.

Haibara shook her head, looking almost afraid. She pulled up another screen. On this one there were none of the purple clumps. It was comprised of only the red, white, and golden cells. “This is the last sample I took from you yesterday. When I went to bed last night, there were eighteen clumps of APTX 4869 in this sample. This morning, they were all gone. I ran it through again. There is not a single trace of the poison left within this sample, Kudo-kun. It’s like the poison was never there.”

Conan stared at her and then the sample. “I thought the APTX 4869 was supposed to be traceless,” he said after a moment, trying to grasp for a valid reason. One that didn’t go into territory he had always wanted to avoid.

“It is to the police,” Haibara said quietly. “In subjects that it kills. We still have trace elements of it in our blood. You more so than me, thanks to the temporary cures.”

Conan nodded, watching the golden cells on the screen move around. Before his eyes, a golden cell bumped into a red cell. Immediately the red blood cell began to change color, gaining a golden hue.

He could hear the sound of his heart pounding in his ears. Haibara’s heart followed his own, creating a steady rhythm as they sat in the quiet. The room smelled like blood and antiseptic wipes. There was a hint of coffee and curry, telling him that she’d had curry for dinner last night.

“I’m not going to like what this means,” he said. It wasn’t a question, not really. Conan had a very good idea about what was happening to him.

“No,” Haibara agreed shortly. “You aren’t.”

“I haven’t been bitten by anything in the last four months,” Conan said, watching the screen. “Neither of my parents have ever had any sign of being anything other than human. We did all the tests.”

Protocol Youkai required that all police consultants over the age of consent or with parental consent be tested in case of recessive genes. Those tests were then filed with the Japanese police department. Those concluded to be 99-100 percent human were left alone, anyone else was given an identification number to give to police in order to contact them for cases leaning towards that population of the country. Shinichi had tested negative for active supernatural genes.

Not anymore.

“It’s not lycanthropy,” Haibara said after a moment of silence. “Or vampirism, from what I can tell. It’s none of the transmittable conditions, I’ve run it through the database. I can’t find a single match that explains what is happening, Edogawa-kun.”

To Ran and to Hattori, Conan had always denied the existence of the supernatural. As the police inspector’s son, Hattori hadn’t had to be brief to be tested. His father had just done it for him. Since he was completely human, he’d never encountered one of the more magical cases. Ran had always been afraid of the old stories, youkai, ghosts, even the western creatures always made his childhood friend panic. Kogoro had gotten her tested secretly early on so she’d never been briefed on the truth either.

It was better for them to be ignorant of the supernatural. If it was widely known that all of the old stories were true, there would be panic. Police were only brought in when it became clear that they could handle the truth.

Shinichi had been told by his father when he was seven. Old enough to understand that he needed to keep it a secret and young enough that he would believe in the supernatural still. He’d even met one of the community, a young kitsune who’d gotten separate from her mom. Shinichi still kept in contact with her, exchanging letters every so often.

The Kudo family had truth-seer blood going back nearly eight generations. Deluded enough that it was barely a point on their tests. Truth-seer blood wouldn’t be responsible for things like this.

“How is this going to affect the apotoxin?” Conan asked, pushing aside the ‘how’ until he had all the bad news. He could panic later, when Haibara wasn’t there to watch him.

“Whatever you’re becoming, it is destroying the poison. You could revert back at any moment, depending on the magic involved,” Haibara sighed. “We never tested the poison on a supernatural before. They tend to be more invulnerable to human based toxins and it was deemed too much of a risk.”

He could become Shinichi again, at any moment. The thought of it made his heartbeat with excitement. Then reality set in.

“If I revert, I’ll have to go into hiding,” he said, the weight of it hitting him. “They BO think I’m dead. If they hear about me in the news, after so long of being ‘missing’…”

They’d hunt him down and kill him. Then they’d find Ran, Otchan, his parents, Hattori, Hakase, Haibara, maybe even the kids. All of them would die.

Kudo Shinichi needed to remain in hiding if he wanted his family and friends to live.

Haibara gave him a despondent look. She had known since the start and just hadn’t wanted to be the one to force him back to reality. It wasn’t a problem to dream when there was no chance of going back.

“How long do you think it will take for the poison to be purged?” Conan asked, voice low.

“A week, at longest,” Haibara answered, voice softer and filled with fear. “Maybe less. You’ll have to keep an eye on how you feel, Kudo-kun. The moment you begin the change, there will be no going back.”

Conan nodded, clenching his hands as the realization of what this could mean for him set it. “I’ll need to tell Ran,” he said after a moment. “If I could revert at any moment, then Ran needs to know. I’ll need someone to be able to get me away as quickly as possible. She’s my best bet. Hattori lives too far away, my parents are currently MIA somewhere in Africa, and Hakase won’t be back for another five days.”

He didn’t bother mention Otchan. If Ran didn’t know there was no way that he was telling Kogoro.

Haibara grimaced, though she didn’t protest. “Nothing is ever easy with you, is it Kudo-kun?” she asked, and it was almost fond.

Conan laughed. “My life has never been something you could call easy.”

Ran had always remained clueless about the supernatural. She’d never wanted to know about it, really. It had always frightened her. Shinichi had planned on letting her stay blissfully unaware for the rest of her life.

He closed his eyes as another plan came crashing down around him.

* * *

It happened four days later. The burning began subtly, as slight tingle that he almost brushed off.

Then his arm felt like it was on fire.

Otchan was out drinking with his mahjong buddies, leaving Ran and Conan alone for the weekend. Ran had been ignoring him for the last three days, ever since he’d sat her down and come clean. About Tropical Land, the BO, Haibara, Vermouth, anything and everything that he’d kept hidden from her. It had been a rough conversation, filled with her stony face watching him.

She hadn’t said a word when he was done. Ran had merely stood up and walked away.

Conan hadn’t followed her.

Before he could tell her that it was starting, the pain had him crashing to the floor with a scream that made his heightened ears ring. This was different than it had been the other times. It was harsher, his veins feeling as if the blood was being boiled by a heat that couldn’t have been natural.

Ran came bursting into the room, summoned by his scream of agony. Conan felt his spine arch as another wave of agony had him tasting blood in his mouth. He wasn’t surprised when he cough from blood welling in his throat. Whatever was happening seemed to have broken his ribs, puncturing a long.

A large crack sounded in the room and Conan howled. His bones twisted, snapping and rebinding together. Usually, Conan was unconscious from this part. He wished that he was unconscious now too.

“Shinichi,” Ran cried from next to him. “I-I’ll call Ai-chan.”

Her footsteps sped away from him.

This was why he’d never wanted her to know. She never was someone that could stomach her friends being hurt. Watching this was the ultimate torture to Ran, who never wanted someone she loved to be in pain.

It took forever. Longer than the temporary cures had, maybe even longer than the first poison. Conan could feel it as his skin stretched with his growing size, splitting and regrowing in places. He was glad that Ran was gone, she didn’t need to see this.

By the time Ran had returned, Shinichi was fully grown. Naked and shivering, he blearily looked at her. His eyes were refusing to focus.

She smelled frantic. Or maybe horrified. He wasn’t the best as telling emotions from scent yet. He could smell wet salt, a signal that she was crying.

“Gomen,” he told her hoarsely. “I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

Her voice was wobbly as she laughed. “Tantei-baka,” she said. “Don’t ever do that to me again.”

Shinichi laughed. “I wish I could promise that,” he cleared his voice a bit. The taste of copper was fading the longer he remained still. “We aren’t sure this is permanent.”

“Every time you showed up, every date,” she said and now she really was sobbing. “You went through that. Just to make me smile.”

“It was worse this time,” he tried to soothe. “They weren’t all like this.”

They still hadn’t been fun. Having your heart try to beat out of your chest and feeling yourself almost dissolving or stretching was not something he enjoyed.

“What do we do now?” she asked. Her face was coming into focus now. Ran was biting her lip, face streaked with tears.

Before Shinichi could answer, the pain started again. This time it was like electricity surging through his body. He screamed out, body arching with it. Flowing through his veins and biting into his skin, the current left a trail of pain behind it.

Shinichi prepared for his bones to crack and his skin to begin to dissolve. This felt different than when he’d become Conan. It didn’t hurt as much, actually. After that first blast of pain, the current left the feeling of ants on his skin behind.

All around him, the world sharpened. Colors that he swore he’d never seen in this room started to filter into his vision. There was a layer of silver over everything that he looked at. Vaguely, he could hear Ran’s voice calling his name. She was so far away that he couldn’t hear anything else that she was saying.

When it was over, Shinichi knew that something unexpected had happened. He could see it in Ran and Haibara’s face. He moved to ask and heard only a whine escape him mouth.

“I thought you said it wasn’t lycanthropy,” Ran whispered to the scientist.

“It isn’t,” Haibara answered, her eyes intent on him. “Lycan’s are wolves, Mouri-chan. They look like wolves to the point that you can barely tell the two apart. Kudo-kun is too big for that. His legs are more feline like, as are his claws. Without that, I’d say he’s a dog of some sort.”

A dog? Shinichi looked down at himself and found paws were his hands should be. He was covered in pitch black fur. He studied his paws and found what Haibara was referring to: the claws retracted as he focused on them.

“How do I explain away a monster dog to Tousan?” Ran asked, voice still wavery. “It was going to be hard to explain Conan away. Shinichi returning would have been easier. A dog this big can’t be brushed off.”

If Ran didn’t know how to explain his sudden appearance as a large dog, Shinichi was even more at a loss. He hadn’t been expecting to find himself as a dog-like creature after Haibara had ruled out lycanthropy. It was going to be hard enough trying to figure out how to explain the sudden disappearance of Edogawa Conan. The only bright side was that they weren’t going to have to explain away Shinichi’s return as happening at the same time Conan ‘went to America’.

For all that Shinichi had been hoping for a cure, to be able to go back to his own life, he’d never considered the fact that even returning to his original age would not allow for it. The BO could not find out that he was alive and that he’d been alive the entire time. Irish had been a close call. Ran had nearly been killed during that fiasco. He hated to admit it, but staying as Conan until the BO was taken down would have been in his best interests.

As if summoned by his thoughts, the heat returned. His skin crawled and he yelped as the muscles of his body spammed. Ran and Haibara said something, voice alarmed. He couldn’t tell what it was over the ringing in his ears.

Then it was just gone, as if had never been there. There was no lingering burn or the pain of reformed muscles.

He wasn’t Shinichi, either. Ran was back to towering over him, her eyes wide and stunned. A quick glance at his hands showed him that he was back in his child form.

Well, then.

“I suppose that saves us from having to come up with an explanation,” Haibara said, voice flat. “Mouri-chan, could you retrieve Edogawa-kun some clothing?”

Conan felt his face redden as he realized that he’d been naked since the first changes had started. Ran’s own face was extremely red as well, his childhood friend sprinting to where Conan’s normal clothing was kept. The shreds of what he’d been wearing originally were scattered around him on the floor. He grabbed the glasses from couch, Ran having had the foresight to take them off him.

“What just happened?” he asked, trying to understand the last few hours.

“I do not have a single idea,” Haibara drawled, looking as if she wanted to be anywhere other than standing with him. Conan couldn’t even really blame her. This was very different from the shrinking and growing caused by the apotoxin. For one, it didn’t hurt nearly as bad after the first time, when he turned into Shinichi.

“Did you get a photo of what I turned into?” he asked. It would be useful if he had something visual to compare to the files that his family had on the supernatural creatures. The Kudo clan had always been a family filled with geniuses. They’d been keeping records on every supernatural they dealt with for centuries. Hidden in a secret room within the confines of the Kudo library at their home.

His father was really fond of secret passageways and hidden rooms. Conan still stumbled upon one that he hadn’t known about every now and then.

Why they needed a secret passage to the bathroom, he still hadn’t figured out.

Ran returned with clothing as Haibara assured him that they had a photo of his canine form. He took the offered clothing gratefully, slipping into them with some relief. Once the fabric was resting against his skin, he stared at the shredded cloth around him. “This is going to be annoying to clean up,” the apparent child sighed.

“Baka,” Ran’s voice, low, drew his attention to her. His childhood friend’s face was angled down casting a shadow across her features. Conan winced.

“Gomen,” he said, not wanting to see the tears running down her face. “I didn’t expect it to be so bad, this time.”

It had been worse than normal during the first change. He didn’t usually stay conscious for that long. He’d known that it was going to be bad, it was always at least somewhat bad. He’d even warned her that she might be better off leaving during the change.

It was Conan’s mistake to think that Ran would ever leave him when he was in pain. Even if she could do nothing to help, she would not have left him alone with that. If he’d been thinking, he wouldn’t have thought she would. He hadn’t been thinking, too distracted by her silence after he’d told her everything. Like he promised to himself that he would, one day.

If Conan had been given a different option, he would have kept her in the dark still. He’d always planned to wait until the BO was no longer a threat. With this new development, Conan had no choice other than to come clean. Ran would have figured it out no matter how much he had wanted to think otherwise. She would have been more hurt if he’d let her find out tonight, as the change had washed over him with no warning. That Otchan wasn’t here was a minor miracle.

Telling her had been the correct choice.

He hated that he hurt her with it.

“Don’t ever do it again,” she said, voice watery from the tears. Conan was about to assure her that he wouldn’t, that next time he would tell her in the beginning. Before he could, Ran looked at him, eyes furious and tearful. “Don’t you ever go through that again for me! You don’t ever hurt yourself for me, do you hear me Shinichi?! Never!”

He didn’t need to ask what she was talking about. Ran was not stupid, she would have realized that even if the temporary cures hadn’t been this painful, they would have still hurt him. With every time that he’d taken one to see her, Shinichi had always been in pain and ill like. Ran would have figured out why that was, given all the information. She had been stunned enough to let herself be reassured by him early. Now that things had calmed down, she had reverted back to upset and angry.

“Gomen,” he said instead of promising. If it was a choice between her tears and his pain, he would never choose her tears.

He didn’t notice when Haibara left, focused solely on his oldest friend and crush.


	2. Chapter 2

In the weeks after that, Ran and Conan settled into a new normal. When Kogoro was around, they made sure to act as they always had. The same when they were out in public. As far as anyone knew, they were just brother and sister.

Alone, Conan didn’t mask his personality from her. They talked like they always had. Ran teased him for his attempts at escape during their baths together, having decided that he had done his best to get out of it. Conan told her about Hattori and his blackmail. Ran had laughed after she’d gotten over her annoyance at the fact the other detective knew before her.

When he got to the FBI, Ran couldn’t hide her surprise.

“Do they know who you are?” she asked, eyes wide.

“Not a clue,” he shrugged. “Maybe Subaru suspects. I’m not sure. I’ve never confirmed it for him, however.”

“The American FBI doesn’t find it weird that a seven-year-old child seems to be hunting a criminal organization, actually succeeding in gathering information without said organization knowing, not to mention solving crimes and outwitting top agents?” Ran asked, her disbelief making Conan laughed.

“I think they’re trying not to think about it too hard,” he told her, grinning. “Same way that Megure-keibu isn’t looking at it too hard, I suspect.”

There was something about the way the Japanese police pretended that he wasn’t a child, taking his advice in the same way that they took Shinichi’s advice, that bothered him. As if there was a puzzle piece that he was missing which would explain everything.

They’d changed the subject to the cases that Conan had been solving when Ran wasn’t looking.

“When I called you after the avalanche!” Ran exclaimed, eyes wide. “You had your other phone on you and that’s what woke you up!”

“Dumb luck is sometimes on my side,” Conan shrugged, smiling slightly. “There have been so many times I was sure I was about to be exposed and something stupid would happen that prevented it. Thinking about it, the fact that only Kaitou KID has figured me out among the criminals I’ve dealt with might be a minor miracle.”

Ran scowled at the mention of the thief. Conan had filled her in on their favor for favor relationship. “I still can’t believe that he had a specialized suitcase made so that he could kidnap you to Singapore with us.”

“You and me both,” Conan grumbled. “Baka thief. He could have just asked.”

Conan owed him after the mystery train, he wouldn’t have said no. Not when it would mean that a murderer would be freed.

Neither of them had realized just what a shitstorm Singapore would be, though. One of the most complicated murders that Conan had seen so far. Two culprits, that corrupt detective, pirates, and a housing plan? Add KID to that and shake for maximum chaos, the teen turned child grumbled internally.

Ran sighed, “I suppose I should forgive him for pretending to be you all the time. He’s given you cover in case anyone suspects that you’re you.”

And he’d saved Conan’s life more than once. Saved Ai’s life by pretending to be her on the Mystery Train. Ran smiled, as if she knew what he was thinking.

“I’m still going to give him a piece of my mind,” the teen girl said, fist clenching.

Conan decided that he was better off not asking about that. Probably better if he didn’t know what the thief had done to piss Ran off that badly.

It was his own fault. KID had made his bed, time for him to lay in it.

Their talks had turned to other things eventually. Complaints about Otchan, an explanation about how Bourbon/Amuro-san. The truth behind Kogoro’s framing for that explosion.

“They arrested Tousan so that you’d find the real culprit?” Ran asked, sounding stunned. “Amuro-san _sicced_ you on a terrorist?!”

“I still don’t know if I should be flattered or annoyed,” Conan sighed, rubbing his temples.

It was probably a good thing for Amuro-san that he was currently an undercover agent, saving him from the loud confrontation and beating Ran had wanted to give him.

Eventually, Kogoro would return and they’d have to change the subject. Ran settled into the knowledge of who Conan was as two weeks went by.

Not all their alone time was spent catching Ran up to speed. On days that Kogoro was on simpler cases, the three of them would gather in Kudo library and look for a match for whatever Shinichi/Conan was now. Haibara spent the most time there, reading about supernatural species that she’d never heard of before. It was fascinating, she’d told him when he’d asked her about it.

They were careful to keep Subaru from figuring out what they were doing. On days that the FBI agent was in, Conan and Ran stayed away from the house. He was more likely to ignore Haibara’s activities without question. Conan has suspicions about why that was. He kept them to himself, not wanting to disturb the sensitive topic too much.

It was one of those days that Haibara found a match. It was on a scroll nearly three hundred years old. The drawing was stylized, and it took careful comparisons to be sure, yet there it was. The text was in what Haibara had found to be Latin, of all things. Conan wasn’t sure if he should be amused that he had an ancestor who kept records in Latin or annoyed.

He was leaning towards annoyed.

It would take time to translate the entire document, as none of them spoke Latin.

Once that was done, Conan would have his answers.

It was going to be a long wait.

* * *

Kuroba Kaito was having the worst few months of his life. After his father died, Kaito had thought there would never be anything to top the grief, fear, and anguish that had followed.

He didn’t appreciate being proven wrong. Back then, there had been people there to support him and to share his grief with. Now, he was alone. There wasn’t a single person that he could go to about this. Even Jii-chan wouldn’t understand, though Kaito could at least talk about the changes to him.

If Kaito wasn’t losing his mind, that is.

Considering he was talking about turning into a bird and healing knife wounds in second, Kaito wasn’t sure that he could rule out insanity. Maybe he’d finally lost it, like the task force thought he had. People didn’t just turn into birds one day for no reason. They didn’t slice open their hand and have it magically heal in minutes. He’d even tested it. With a sharp thumb tack, Kaito had stabbed his thumb. The blood welled up and dripped. A moment later, Kaito wiped the blood away to find himself without a single wound.

This wasn’t normal. It couldn’t be normal.

Kaito needed answers and there was nowhere he could go for them.

Akako had been his first thought, one that he immediately dismissed. The witch had tried killing him more than once and had proven herself to be immensely unstable at the best of times. Going to her could prove even more disastrous than trying to figure this out on his own.

So he kept quiet and tried not to think about it too hard when his broken bone from his next heist healed in ten minutes.

Hakuba’s disbelieving face almost made him laugh the next day, arm completely healed.

He tried not to think about what that meant for him.

Poker face, he chanted to himself. Poker face.

It didn’t help.

Even Aoko noticed that something was wrong with him after a few weeks of living in denial. He assured her that nothing was wrong, berating himself for worrying her.

That white feather sat in his bookbag. Kaito had tried leaving it behind before, only to spend the rest of the day in an anxious mess. Since then, it lived wherever he could put it, always either on or close to his person. As if letting it out of his sight would spell disaster. In the weeks since it had been left behind from his bird form, the feather had not been damaged a single fiber. As if it was preserved for the rest of time.

The thought made him feel sick to his stomach.

Until two months after everything had started, the truth confronted him head-on.

It wasn’t even at a heist. Kaito had just been walking down the street with Hakuba before a car had swerved off the road. With a burst of speed, he’d shoved the other boy out of the way. Brown eyes filled with horror met violet as Kaito was hit full on by the speeding vehicle.

He felt the impact shatter his ribs as he was sent flying in the opposite direction of the other teenager. The car didn’t bother stopping, speeding away as if that would change the fact that Kaito had been hit.

He hit the concrete with a crack, his head slamming against the hard stone. Kaito gasped for breath, blood already filling his mouth as his rib punctured his lung.

Hakuba’s face was above his in an instant, the brown eyes filled with terror and a hint of tears. He was saying something.

Kaito couldn’t hear him.

Not the way that he’d thought he’d die, really. Kaito had always pictured it being a bullet from Snake, on a night that he hadn’t been lucky enough to escape. Maybe a bomb from stumbling upon another unlucky situation.

Saving a life seemed like a good way to die. Hakuba was annoying, yeah. That didn’t mean Kaito wanted to see the other teen dead from a drunk driver who didn’t even have the decency to stop. Even calling an ambulance wouldn’t save him, Kaito could already feel the blood as it seeped into his clothes. He’d been punctured by something when the car had sent him flying. That plus his punctured lung meant that Kaito wasn’t going to walk away from this.

Black slowly consumed those brown eyes until Kaito felt himself falling away from the world.

* * *

A flicker of white broken through the darkness that consumed him. Bright and painful, burned with growing intensity around him. Until the inferno was so large that he was engulfed in it. Instead of pain, it was a feeling of warmth and coming home.

“-uroba!”

There was a voice just beyond the flames. Kaito could just barely hear them, calling for him. He didn’t know why he new that, only that he needed to follow the voice to get back to where he was supposed to be.

He couldn’t tell how long it had been since he had left.

The voice shouted again, louder this time.

Kaito couldn’t tell where it was coming from. Not until a white feather fluttered against his feet from his left. Kaito turned and ran through the flames, trusting his instincts to know where he was going.

Returning to.

Kaito lurched upwards, coughing as blood spilled from his mouth. His chest felt like it was on fire even though Kaito was freezing. His body shook against the cold as the world swam back into focus.

The memories followed. The car, dying, Hakuba, everything.

They were still on the street. Blood clung to his back, liquid-proof that he’d been injured. Kaito could feel it there, sticky and still warm.

“Kuroba?” Hakuba’s voice breathed from in front of him. Kaito snapped his eyes to the blond detective’s, his breathing shaky as he tried to figure out what just happened.

To understand how it was that he was still alive when Kaito could have sworn that he’d been dead only minutes ago.

“I-” Kaito tried to speak only to cough on more blood that was filling his throat. He hacked the blood splattering to the ground to join the rest. His blood.

Kaito felt faint.

“We need to leave,” the detective told him, throwing a jacket over Kaito’s shoulders. “Your house is closer. Are your keys in your bookbag?”

Kaito nodded, still staring at the blood on the street.

This was just a bad dream, he told himself even as Hakuba grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet. The teen was speckled with blood as well. The white undershirt of their uniform was stained with it. “We need to leave, Kuroba,” his classmate told him again. “Can you walk?”

Kaito didn’t answer, still staring at the blood covering his bear feat.

Where had his shoes gone? Was this why he was so cold?

Hakuba pulled him along and Kaito didn’t fight him. Through back alleys, avoiding every main street, Kaito couldn’t figure out what was happening. What had happened.

Had he really died? The blood that coated them both couldn’t have come out of nowhere. How was it that he wasn’t dead then? Last Kaito had checked, dead people didn’t wake up covered in their own blood butt naked.

The hitching of his breath told him that he was maybe thirty minutes away from a full-blown panic attack.

They were at the back entrance to his house in ten. Hakuba unlocked the door and dragged Kaito inside.

When intent brown eyes swung around to look at him, Kaito had no idea how to react. He could only shiver, the tang of blood still staining his tongue.

* * *

If there was one thing that Hakuba Saguru knew it was that Kuroba Kaito was an enigma. From that very first day, the detective had known that Kuroba was the Kaitou KID. A teen magician more talented than adults’ decades more experienced?

The probabilities of there being two in the same area where infinitesimal. Leaving Kuroba Kaito the Kaitou KID. Saguru had always planned on proving it one day, back Kuroba into a corner that he couldn’t get out of. He’d thought for sure that KID had broken his arm last heist, though that couldn’t have been the case as Kuroba’s arm was fine in school the next day.

When their teacher had paired them for the English project, as the two best students in the class, Saguru had been planning on getting as much information on his classmate as possible. Never in all of his nightmares had he expected the magician to push him out of the way of a drunk driver on the walk to Kuroba’s house.

Saguru had watched in horror as the car slammed into Kuroba at 40 kilometers per hour. The sickening crack of the other teen's ribs as he was tossed down the street, slamming against a bike pole. It pierced through his stomach in a gory mess. Saguru hadn’t paid attention as the car kept going, running to his downed classmate with a single-minded determination.

Kaito, he couldn’t think of him as Kuroba or KID at just that moment with all that blood, blinked at him as Saguru shouted for him to keep awake. Those violet eyes that usually danced with laughter and mischief had clouded over in the way that Saguru had seen a hundred times before. Death claimed his classmate minutes after the accident. There was no time to call for help, no way to save him.

If Kaito hadn’t acted, this would have been him. Should have been him.

Just as rationality had started to sink in, as he prepared to call the police and report the accident ( _murder_ his thoughts snarled in rage), a flicker of flame ignited the magician’s bloodied uniform. Saguru had barely flung himself back before a white inferno engulfed the dead teenager, eating away all of his clothing. Turning even the bike pole that had killed him into ash.

Leaving a very naked, very much alive Kaito behind. Coughing up blood and covered in the crimson liquid.

Saguru had been ready to demand answers when he noticed that the other teen was in shock. It was nearing the start of summer and the temperature had been climbing by the day. Despite that, Kaito was shaking as if he was in the middle of winter.

Throwing his already ruined jacket over the other teen, Saguru dismissed the idea of calling the police. As far as Saguru knew, Kaito wasn’t on record for being a supernatural. If he was a newly awakened creature, then the police wouldn’t be any help. He was going to have to get the magician back to his own house to figure out what the next step was.

Having Kuroba Kaito the Kaitou KID obeying his directions without protest was something Saguru never wanted to experience again.

Now he was staring into those violet eyes as Kaito spiraled into a panic attack. The rapid breathing and shaking combined with the shock meant that the magician wasn’t tracking at all right now.

It was unnerving.

Since approaching only made the attack worse, Saguru had gone looking for the bathroom instead. That blood needed to be scrubbed off before Kaito was going to calm down enough to be questioned. He turned the shower on warm and dug out a towel from the linens in the closest nearest to the bathroom. Then he went down the stairs and lead the magician, who looked to be calming down, to the shower.

He left him to clean the blood off. He needed to inform the council of the cleanup where the accident had happened.

* * *

The warm water and familiar scent of home calmed him down enough that Kaito could think again.

He’d died.

The blood was proof of it. Hakuba was proof of it.

Kaito let the warm water wash the blood off his skin. Once he was sure there were no traces left, Kaito brushed his teeth to rid himself of the blood within his mouth. Through it all, Kaito couldn’t stop his body from shaking.

This wasn’t like Singapore or any of the other times he’d been seriously injured. This was his death.

Kaito couldn’t figure out how he wasn’t still dead. As far as he knew, there wasn’t any reasonable explanation for how he’d woken up. Was that white fire real? The lack of clothing suggested that it had been. Why was only his clothing destroy and not the blood that coated him?

He didn’t know.

Hakuba was waiting for him at the kitchen table, face set in a grim manner.

Kaito didn’t have the energy to tease him or pretend that nothing had happened. He was freshly clean, in new clothing, and he still couldn’t stop his body from trembling.

“You died,” the other teen began, voice steady.

“I think I did,” Kaito agreed lowly, clutching his right wrist in his left hand. An old habit from before he’d trained himself to be ambidextrous. A comfort technique that he’d used when he was younger, and something was terrifying him.

He was pretty sure that no one would blame him for being terrified right now.

“You think?” Hakuba said, his voice changing slightly. Sounding more worried and less angry.

“I’ve never died before, if that’s what you mean,” Kaito snapped. “People just don’t die and come back, Hakuba. That’s not how this works. You die and you stay that way. You don’t wake up naked covered in blood!”

He was shaking harder now. The magician snarled, digging his nails into his wrist to focus himself. He hadn’t had a full breakdown since after his father died, Kaito was not going to do this in front of Hakuba of all people.

“You have no idea what happened?” the detective asked, sounding more concerned now. “This hasn’t happened before?”

Kaito stared at him.

The detective had the grace to look a bit repentant. “Gomen,” he sighed. “You already answered that.”

Well then, Kaito thought with relief. It looked like Hakuba did have a bit of tact after all. Who would have known?

“You don’t seem all that affected by this,” he said finally. “I just died and came back to life, and you don’t seem at all concerned about how this is possible. Just concerned about whether or not this is a new development.”

Focusing on Hakuba’s reaction was a great distraction for trying to deal with his own emotions. From Hakuba’s face, the other teen knew something that Kaito didn’t. Or had a better idea than he did about what was going on.

For once, Kaito was the one who was pressing for information. A switch of their normal roles.

Kaito didn’t like it one bit.

“You have no idea,” the blond said, sounding stunned now. “I would have thought that given your occupation you would know about this.”

Kaito ignored the reference to KID. “Know about _what_? Because I’ve spent the last two months thinking that I’ve gone insane. I cut my hand making dinner last week and it healed before I could clean it. I stabbed myself with a thumbtack and same thing!” _I woke up as a bird two months ago!_ He shouted internally. “What is happening, Hakuba!”

“Protocol Youkai,” Hakuba told him, face intent. “Does that mean anything to you?”

Youkai? “You mean the old stories?” Kaito asked, frowning. “No, I’ve never heard of that.”

It sounded familiar, as if he had heard it in passing before. Kaito couldn’t recall where it had been or what he’d been doing at the time. Only that phrase, faded into the back of his memory.

“It’s the code the Japanese police use for matters containing the supernatural,” Hakuba told him, leaning back in the chair he’d chosen while Kaito showered.

The thief stared at him with wide eyes. “Oh,” he said, the implications starting to settle.

Why wouldn’t the police have a code for supernatural creatures? If there were more like Akako, they couldn’t have just been ignored for all this time.

Wait. Did Hakuba mean to say that…

Kaito felt as if the room was starting to squeeze in around him. “I’m human,” he said, his voice so low he had trouble hearing himself talk. He was human. His mother was human and so was his father. Toichi certainly hadn’t come back to life like Kaito had. DNA had identified the body to belong to his father, so faking his own death was ruled out.

Hakuba didn’t say anything in response, though Kaito knew he’d heard him. The detective just looked at him.

Kaito tried to find an argument that would negate what the other was implying. He was human. There had never been any indication that he was anything else.

_Humans don’t come back from the dead,_ his mind whispered. _They don’t wake up as birds, heal injuries in minutes, and they don’t catch on fire._

Kaito looked down at his hands which, sure enough, were on fire. White flames licked against his skin in a gentle caress.

“I’m not human,” he said after a moment of staring at the flames. He lifted his head and stared at Hakuba. The detective was watching him with a face that displayed compassion. As if this wasn’t the first time that Hakuba had witnessed a friend discover that they were a supernatural creature.

Kaito wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t. Out of the two of them, Hakuba was the calm one. The one that seemed to have the answers, for once. Kaito didn’t like being on the other side, trying to figure out what the person in front of him was thinking. What they knew that he didn’t. It was maddening.

“What am I?” he asked after a moment, going for the direct approach.

Hakuba looked at him straight in the face. “I don’t know.”


	3. Chapter 3

As much as Kaito would have liked to say that the conversation ended with getting answers and finding out what his new species was, he couldn’t. Hakuba had never heard of a creature that could burst into flames and healed all injuries. He didn’t know much about the supernatural either, the detective admitted. He’d very little to do with them other than a case back in Britain and Koizumi at school.

“I never planned on working cases that directly involved such things,” Hakuba had said with an offhand shrug. “I admit that was a bit shortsighted of me. Detectives do not always choose cases that are given to them. It was a mistake to think that I would never run into another case where supernatural elements are at place.”

What Hakuba did have was a contact number for a supernatural agency in Beika. They consulted mostly with Lycans, vampires, and other creatures that were created by infection and not birth. Since Kaito hadn’t been born whatever it was that he found himself as they would be the perfect people to consult.

The problem was that Kaito didn’t want to consult them. He didn’t want Kuroba Kaito to be anything other than human on paper. If Kaito registered as a supernatural around the same time KID turned out to be, there would be no hiding the connection.

Hakuba knowing was bad enough. Kaito hadn’t even noticed when he caught on fire ( _white fire, what the hell!?_ ). If he did that during a heist, the blond would have all the proof that he needed. Leaving Kaito in a bind that he wasn’t sure how to get out of.

The decision was taken out of his hands two days later when a man in a suit knocked on his front door.

“Can I help you?” the teen asked politely, taking in the large build and long red hair. He was black, not a usual skin color to see in Japan.

“Kuroba Kaito?” the man asked. Kaito blinked, surprised by the deep baritone from the rather thin man. Kaito’s voice also hurt after too long talking that low.

“That’s me,” the magician agreed, growing wary. “Did you need something?”

The man didn’t answer verbally. One moment Kaito was at the door, the next he found himself being pushed backwards as the man forced his way in. He was stronger than Kaito would have pegged him. The thief didn’t think anyone could blame him for the angered squawk he made at the forced entry.

When the man closed the door, Kaito unleashed his smoke bombs. Before the intruder knew what was happening, Kaito had already secured him in bindings.

He did not appreciate the bemused expression that he got in return. “Was this necessary?” the man asked, looking put-upon.

“You just shoved your way into my house without warning,” the magician growled back. “I could have done much worse and been seen as justified.”

Nakamori-keibu would never stand for someone breaking into the Kuroba residence. There had been a few attempts, all that ended extremely badly for the aspiring thieves. He was pretty sure that the station had a code for dealing with those that made the mistake to think his house an ‘easy’ target.

That had been before KID. Kaito was even more dangerous now than he had been then.

“I suppose that you could see it that way,” the man agreed, sounding bland. “I am here, however, to help you.”

Kaito raised an eyebrow. “Help me,” he repeated. “You forced your way into my house to help me.”

Not that Kaito could really talk without being a hypocrite. He’d done the same to Aoko some many times that it wasn’t funny. He’d even considered doing it to Tantei-kun a few times. The threat of the soccer ball from Hell kept him from acting on those thoughts. Mouri Ran’s fury was just a good a reason to steer clear.

That was a bit different, however. Kaito was a nonviolent thief that _knew_ those people. Kaito had never seen this man in his life.

“My name is Handler,” the man continued. “I’m here on a request by the Council which has received information that you are a newly awaken supernatural. My job is to register you with the Council and to introduce you to other members of your species in order to learn control.”

Kaito stiffened. “I didn’t call for help,” he said. His heartbeat wildly in his chest.

“It doesn’t matter,” Handler smiled. It wasn’t a kind smile, there were far too many sharpened teeth inside his mouth for it to be friendly. “All newly awakened or changed supernatural will be registered. It is Law.”

Hah, I don’t even obey human law, Kaito thought with derision. He didn’t like the idea that this man was in his house dictating to him. It screamed dangerous and enemy. Every part of Kaito wanted to challenge this aggressor and teach the being his place.

Alright, so physical changes weren’t the only ones that Kaito had been experiencing. He really didn’t want to acknowledge the new instincts that tried to govern his life.

“You will comply willingly, or you will be tagged as a rogue. Rogues do not enjoy their lives as much as willing supernaturals,” the creature smiled. Kaito was pretty sure, somehow, that this wasn’t a simple official that he was talking to. It was something older and much deadlier than he was. To prove that Kaito was a moron as well as a slightly suicidal thief, this made him want to engage with the man more.

He stomped that thought down with a vengeance.

“I don’t know what I am,” Kaito said instead. “I found out about the supernatural four days ago. I don’t exactly know the rules here.”

It grated to say that. Admitting weakness invited challenged. Challenge meant delivering blood and death to his opponents. Kaito really needed to get a handle on these new thoughts. With every minute spent in Handler’s presence, he felt the urge to fight grow.

“We are aware,” the representative stated. A small vial was produced from the jacket pocket. It was filled with orange liquid. “Drink this. After ten minutes we’ll know exactly what you are.”

Kaito eyed the mysterious vial. “I was told not to take things from strangers,” he said, not willing to just comply.

That wasn’t something that he was doing because of new instincts. Common sense dictated that taking something from a strange person you didn’t know was very unwise. Kaito liked to keep his more dangerous impulses buried where he wouldn’t end up hurt, arrested, or dead because of them.

“You take it voluntarily or I force it down your throat,” came the reply. One that was far too eager for Kaito was comfortable with.

He took the vial, opened it, and swallowed the contents. The magician wasn’t really ready to find out if coming back from death was only a onetime thing.

Ten minutes and Kaito stood there, still waiting.

Fifteen with nothing happening and Kaito was losing his patience. With every passing second, the representative looked more wary and slightly panicked.

“I thought you said-” Kaito gasped as his skin burned with ice. It chilled him from the inside, attacking his limbs with the pains only freezing temperatures should cause. Without a thought, white fire flared across his arms and chest in order to raise his body temp back to normal levels.

The look on the representative’s face was one of horror and fascination.

“What did you give me?” Kaito asked, his voice chattering with every word out of his mouth. It was as if all the warmth of his body was being leached out despite the white fire that was trying its best to replenish his warmth.

There was no verbal answer. Handler’s chocolate eyes brightened to a brilliant blue as he watched the flames along Kaito’s arms. Unlike what had happened when he’d died, his clothing wasn’t being consumed by the fire.

And just like that, the cold and fire were gone. There was no indication that they’d ever been there. Just the warmth the fire had given him to replace the warmth robbed by whatever had been in that vial. In other circumstances, Kaito would have berated himself for taking an unknown substance. Since the option was to take it himself or find it forced down his throat by a person who’d escaped his bonds without moving while Kaito had been watching, the thief didn’t think he’d made the wrong choice.

Plus, he’d texted Hakuba about the man just in case this was an unfriendly visitor. He’d even included a picture in the text.

Sometimes being underestimated worked in his favor. If this had been Tantei-kun or even Nakamori-keibu, Kaito never would have been able to get away with sending the picture unseen. Kaito wasn’t even sure if anyone _could_ fool Tantei-kun for long. The small grim reaper was horrifyingly observant.

Not relevant, Kaito reminded himself as he watched Handler. And who named their child Handler? Even English names didn’t tend to be that strange, he was pretty sure. Was this a supernatural thing?

Eh, he’d get answers soon enough if the phone the man pulled out was any indication.

Something about Kaito’s fire and reaction to that vial had this man calling for backup. Through text, so Kaito wouldn’t overhear what was being said. As his hearing had been getting better, the magician couldn’t really blame the other for the foresight.

“Did you want lemonade?” the thief asked as the silence started to stretch out into uncomfortable territory. He’d never been someone who could stand long periods of silence.

The man nodded, still avoiding looking at him. This was vastly different than the behavior Handler had displayed only moments ago. All the threatening presence and the violence had disappeared to be replaced to by a quiet reverence.

Kaito didn’t like the change. It meant that whatever was going on with him was not normal even for a supernatural.

He ended up deciding to bring the pitcher and glasses into the dining room so that anyone else who showed up could poor themselves a glass. Filling his own glass and one for Handler, Kaito heard the door open. Handler greeted them lowly, his voice low enough that Kaito couldn’t make out the exact words. His hearing had gotten leagues better considering the house was soundproof and it usually took screaming for him to hear someone from the dining room.

“How many glasses should I pour?” he asked, trying to seem unbothered by the sudden invasion of his home. Poker face, he reminded himself as he started setting glasses down.

“Four,” Handler answered. “Myself included.”

Three new invaders then, great. Kaito fought the urge to snarl at these interlopers, squashing it down until there was no indication of his anger on his face or in his voice. “Four it is than,” the thief hummed as he started diving out lemonade.

“Dear gods,” a new voice, belonging to an elderly female from the waver and tone, filled the room. “You were right, Handler. This is beyond your capabilities.”

Kaito looked up then, taking in his new visitors. As he’d thought, an elderly woman was part of the group. Her hair was greyed with age and her skinned carried the wrinkles of life. However there was a power to her that most lost with age. Her muscles were defined, and her eyes had sharp strength that wouldn’t have been out of places on a tiger’s face. A predator in every possible way.

She was joined by a pair of twins. Albino twins, at that. The bright white hair and the red eyes were focused on him with. If the woman was a predator, they were her loyal pack. Flanking her sides, remaining watchful. Between any danger that may have attacked from their blind sides.

Kaito watched them and tried to ignore the voice screaming to put these creatures in their place. The need for them to bow made his stomach roil. It made him uncomfortable that he craved violence this way. He’d never been one that could stomach blood and the like. Yet it was as if his own body had forgotten that in the face of these newcomers. Hakuba hadn’t brought this out. Kaito had been just as horrified by the blood, his blood, a few days before.

Now it was like he needed it, craved the blood of these people. It made him ill to think about even as the thought of them bloodied on the floor seemed to settle something in him that was dark.

“You are but a few days old,” the woman said, studying him. “So young even with your human age. I’ve never seen one of you this young before.”

Kaito frowned at her. “I have no clue what you’re talking about,” he said finally.

She nodded as if that was to be expected.

“Yes, I suspected that to be the case. Tell me this, young one. Around eight to nine weeks ago, you woke up as a white bird. You remained that way for hours before suddenly finding yourself human. A single white feather remained behind.”

Kaito sucked in a breath as everything inside him turned to pay attention to this woman. The lust for blood disappeared entirely.

“Then you started healing rapidly. There would be blood left behind without any indication of a wound. Your hearing started to increase, and you’ve started noticing things quicker than before. You likely have had an increase in speed as well. All of it leading up to a few days ago when you died only to wake up covered in blood without clothing.”

Kaito watched her, desperate for the answers that he was now convinced this woman had. “How did you know that?” he asked quietly. He hadn’t told anyone about the speed and hearing. Had barely noticed it himself. His senses had always been good, and he’d always been a bit faster than the normal person. A lot of it could have been explained by his senses being trained better during his night job. Kaito had hoped that was what had been happening, even.

“The white feather has since disappeared without a trace,” she continued as if he hadn’t asked. “Right now, all of your instincts are telling you that we are a threat that you need to dominate. Intruders into your territory that are threats to you.”

Handler tensed, seeming surprised. Kaito had done a good job acting as if he hadn’t been ready to attack them all, then.

Meaning that this woman was describing symptoms based on what she knew him to be.

“How do you _know that_?” he asked again, trying to keep his voice from displaying his need for answers. To know what was happening to him.

She smiled then, an expression that was kind. It was a lie, he could see it in the glint of her eyes and the slight tense of her body. The same tense and glint that he was used to seeing in his task force when they caught hint of him during a heist. A predator preparing for the chase.

Kaito instincts snarled, daring this woman to attack. The confidence that he would be able to put her down if she did filling him. Even though Kaito had never applied the lessons, he knew self-defense. His mother had demanded that he knew how to properly fight even if Kaito didn’t have the stomach to put it into practice. He was more comfortable as the prey, dodging the attacks wielded against him.

His knowledge was what allowed him to dodge the likes of Mouri Ran and Suzuki-san’s boyfriend whose name he was pretty sure was Makoto. He couldn’t remember his family name.

“Tell me, child. What creature do you know of that is blessed by fire and can revive itself?” she asked him instead of answering.

Kaito had done a lot of research on mythical creatures during the last few days. He’d only found one bird that fit that description.

He hadn’t wanted to have been right.

“A phoenix,” he said lowly.

The albino twins stiffened as he said the word as if they had not understood what the woman had been implying. Identical red eyes studied him as their postures turned from watchful to reverence. As if Kaito had just proven to be something to be worshiped.

“Yes,” the woman said, smiling as she took one of the glasses of lemonade from Kaito’s unmoving hand. “A phoenix.”

* * *

A few hundred years ago, when humanity was beginning to break out from the darkness with technologies and weapons that allowed them to become a threat to us, it was decided that a council would be created to keep the supernatural safe in the changing world. The greatest of all the creatures that called this planet home was chosen to rule us all.

Among those creatures were phoenixes. Unlike the other species, the phoenix was unique in that it never died. Should I say, it never stayed dead. In a blaze of fire that turned all that wasn’t touched by their magic to dust, a phoenix would merge whole and healthy from any injury. They didn’t get sick, after a certain point they no longer aged. They remained untouched by the ravages of time. It was decided that the head of the Council would be comprised by these eternal creatures to make sure that the Council was never corrupted. A separate overseer made of immortal watchers to keep us all safe.

What the supernaturals of the world did not know was that this was already the purpose behind their existence. Every great creature in this world has a purpose. The dragons guard the ley lines in order to keep the natural energies of this world functioning. A wyrm keeps the oceans from becoming unsustainable for life. Likely the only reason that humanity has not polluted it beyond saving yet.

The mighty wyvern keeps the barrier between this world and the vacuum of space functioning. Deep in the ground of this planet, an ouroboros protects the core that forms our world.

What all of these creatures have in common is that they do not know where it is that they come from. One day, they simply existed. Without parents, they grew to know their jobs and the jobs of those around them. Until the formation of the Council, they had not known that other great species shared the same origin story. There had never been a reason for them to interact.

That is when the purpose of a phoenix, a creature that would never die, was discovered. While all the other great species were keeping the planet running, it was the phoenix who balanced the inhabitants of the world. The black phoenix kept the populous of the planet in check, delivering plagues when the numbers of species grew too large. The red phoenix protected the supernatural species, a police force of sorts. Enforcing the laws that keep us in check. The blue phoenix protects the species that live around the poles of this planet. And the brown phoenix guards the life that lives in the deserts, with the green phoenix guarding the rainforests. The Golden phoenix keeps order among the phoenixes themselves, making sure that all the species do their jobs.

For thousands of years, the Council of Supernatural was headed by the Council of Phoenixes. Until one day, something miraculous happened.

Among the human population, there had been reports of a newly awakened creature. From a family with no magic in their bloodline, a young girl had risen from the dead. Thinking it to be a new form of undead, created by the witch lines, an investigation team was sent out. Made of shapeshifters that could blend into the local humans, they found the girl being burned at the stake.

It was then that they witnessed white flames burst forth in answer to the fire on the pyre. The white consumed everything in its path, burning away cloth from the girl’s skin and turned her bonds into ash. Until she stood naked on a mound of ash, alive and unharmed. As if bid by the fire inside, the girl changed form until a beautiful white bird that looked like none they had ever seen before.

A phoenix of a color that had never before been seen. The girl was saved by the shifters and brought back to the Council of Phoenixes.

The Council was baffled by this new phoenix, born of a human girl, who did not know what her task was to be. Every phoenix was born knowing their purpose until then and none had ever come from a human before.

“What is it Child, that you were doing before you awoke as a phoenix?” The golden phoenix who headed them all asked.

“I was the guardian of our family shrine,” the girl said. “I was to protect the shrine from all harm until the day that I died for it would bring unending death should it be destroyed.”

This confused the Council, for they had never heard of this shrine before. The golden phoenix accompanied the girl back to her family shrine. There, they found that the shrine was no mere place of worship. It was a gateway that led to a world beyond ours. If the bindings on the little hut were to be disturbed, such as it would in its destruction, the backlash could destroy our very planet.

Disturbed that this had remained undiscovered for so long, the golden phoenix asked the girl why it was she who had been sent to guard this place. Women were not seen as warriors in that time.

“I was not chosen,” the girl said with defiance. “My family would see this shrine forgotten and rundown. If they will not guard it then it is my duty to do so in their stead.”

It was decided that the girl would remain to guard the shrine, as none could discern if that was truly her task or not. She stands as the guardian to all portals connecting this realm to another.

* * *

Kaito listened with rapt attention. He didn’t want a single detail to escape him.

There were only two more white phoenixes. One that now spent his days guarding magical streams, springs, any kind of body of water really, from being misused by those with negative intents. Apparently having one of them be contaminated could cause devastating damage to the water cycle of the planet, which would end up killing life that needed water to live.

The third white phoenix battled against creatures that were summoned by magic to this world. No stable portals necessary.

All three stories told Kaito one thing: the white phoenix always appeared when their chosen task was about to be misused by other supernatural creatures or even humans.

That didn’t bode well for him, the thief thought with growing trepidation.

“Of course, the white phoenix is not alone. With every rise of a new white phoenix, they are followed by a partner to balance them out. The type of supernatural creature that is tied to them is based on their tasks. A sphinx that can multiply its visage helps keep intruders from approaching stable portals. A special kind of undine helps keep those with malicious intent from corrupting any magical body of water. And lastly, Ja’lel has a kitsune for his companion. The kitsune leads their pray into a trap with illusions so that Ja’lel may finish it off.”

Kaito didn’t know what to think about that so he kept his mouth shut. He didn’t know enough to comment on the forms of these ‘companions’ to the white phoenixes. The _other_ white phoenixes.

“Now I ask, Kuroba Kaito, what is it that you were doing before you awoke as a white bird?” the woman asked, voice soft.

Kaito felt his stomach drop. “I was searching for a magical gem,” he answered, mind spinning as he figured out just what it was that had gotten him ‘chosen’ for this. “To destroy it before an underground organization get ahold of it.”

There was silence at his answer. He figured that they were trying to wrap their minds around his answer. Normal teenagers didn’t go around searching for magic gems that was being search for by an underground organization. Normal _adults_ didn’t go around doing that either.

Kaito had never been normal in any sense of the world. It was practically his anathema.

“I see,” the older woman said though it was clear that she didn’t actually see. “And how is it that you were doing this?”

Kaito just looked at her, eyebrows raised. White phoenix or not, he wasn’t about to tell total strangers that he was the Kaitou KID.

“Everything that is said here will not be repeated,” the woman told him. “By my honor, I so swear it to you that we will keep your silence.”

Magic, golden and red, swirled from her and wrapped around the other three that had invaded his house. A symbol appeared on each of their foreheads, one that Kaito somehow understood to mean silence, and sunk into their skin.

He tried not to think about the fact that he could understand that symbol even though he had never seen it before in his life.

“I come from a family of Phantom Thieves, milady,” Kaito answered instead. With a flick of his wrist, he produced a rose. His instincts told him that it was safe to say that much. Not an admittance to which phantom thief he was, just a hint.

“Kaitou KID,” she said, sounding stunned. “You are the Kaitou KID.”

Kaito didn’t answer. Verbally, at least. The rose had been his answer. There wasn’t another thief out there that was known for returning his stolen items that also practiced stage magic. Not one in Japan, at least.

“How will I know who my companion is?” Kaito asked instead, wanting to change the subject from his night life. There were just things that you didn’t want to admit, magic oaths or not.

They rose in his regard when none pushed his nightlight back into the conversation. The elderly woman merely studied him with intrigue. “Your companion will be one who has worked with you before. Someone that you innately trust despite all reason. They will already be pursuing a goal similar or connected to the one you are pursuing yourself. The creature that they will be will depend on their strengths and what will compliment your partnership the most. It is possible that they may have no magic in their bloodline before you were chosen. The nature of your partnership will depend on the both of you.”

Kaito frowned, mulling that over. Before he could ask another question, the woman continued.

“They will have begun their transformation, should that be the case, at the same time you did. When you see them next, you will both know each other for what you are. You may even know them just from the description I have given you. I will have Hi and Ju return with all that we know on the white phoenix and their companions. In there will be the contact of the other white phoenixes that have risen. It is customary that you four remain in contact,” she took another drink of her lemonade, which was nearly gone completely. “This is very good.”

For the life of him, Kaito couldn’t remember her drinking any of it before that moment. He was slightly impressed by her discretion, really. He’d thought he’d been watching her too closely for her to have done that.

Or maybe he was more rattled than he’d thought.

“We will also include the contact for various officials,” she told him, distracting him from her drink. “As a white phoenix, you have an immunity that most supernatural beings do not. Neither Councils nor the human authorities have any say over your actions. I’m sure that will be interesting, considering who you moonlight as. There will be codewords that you can give them which will force them to listen to you. Informing them of who and what you are is, of course, your own choice.”

Kaito could feel his heart start to pound in his chest. This gave him an out from anyone that discovered his civilian identity. That included Hakuba and Akako, who knew but had no real proof. With a few words, he could force both to back down.

He wondered what Hakuba was going to think when Kaito gave him that notice. His classmate knew that Kaito was supernatural now, just not what Kaito was. Their interactions had told him that much. Kaito rather suspected that Hakuba was the one who told these people about him in the first place. Easy enough to confirm, really.

“Who told you that I was a risen supernatural? Handler didn’t know what I was before the nasty vial called the flames up,” the thief asked.

“We received a phone call that the inhabitant of this home has displayed signs of being a newly awakened creature,” said man answered before the others could. “Since they didn’t know what you were, I was sent to establish contact and register you once we had confirmation of your species. Standard procedure. I was expecting to find a werewolf, which is why I had to be so forceful. Werewolves don’t respond well to anything that isn’t an order or a threat.”

Nor do thieves, Kaito sighed. Hakuba had made that call then. “When did you receive the phone call?”

“A few days ago. We were told that you were given information to the nearest center for registering newly awakened creature, located in Beika. When you didn’t show up, it was decided that we would be making a house call,” Handler shrugged.

Definitely Hakuba, then. The detective wouldn’t have known that Kaito hadn’t been planning on going right away. Since Hakuba also didn’t know what Kaito had been, he wouldn’t have given them that information. Kaito wasn’t sure if he should be pleased or not that Hakuba hadn’t told them what he did know about Kaito’s transformation.

“We thought werewolf based on the cleanup crew that was sent out to take care of a large blood mess left a few streets over,” the old woman informed him. “There were signs of ash that indicated a burned body. We didn’t think to check to make sure that it was human ash.”

“I got hit by a drunk driver,” the thief admitted. “The one who called you was my classmate. He knew a bit about the supernatural, enough to know to call you for cleanup and that I was showing signs of being an awakened creature, I suppose. He probably didn’t think he needed to tell you exactly what happened.”

Hakuba would not have even considered that Kaito would wait before seeking outside help. The blond was far too by the book to have considered that area of grey.

Eventually, Kaito ran out of questions that wouldn’t be answered by the materials the pair of twins would be bringing him by the end of the day. He finally got the woman’s name, Katrina Leaf, and his guests finally left.

Kaito sat at the table for a long time after they were gone, his mind swirling with the knowledge of what he was.

This was not what he had signed up for when he’d taken on the mantle of Kaitou KID.

Kaito had been going through the books and papers delivered the day before by the albino twins when he finally connected the dots that told him who his companion would be.

There was only one person that Kaito knew that he could trust to help him when it mattered. Hadn’t he already proven that in Singapore? Kaito could have easily sent Hakuba after those morons. The thought hadn’t even occurred to him at the time.

That had been four months ago. Two months before Kaito had woken up in his bird form (he still couldn’t think of himself as a phoenix, even now).

Kudo Shinichi, currently Edogawa Conan, was his companion.

Kaito didn’t know if he should laugh or cry at that thought. Kudo was the only one of his detectives that consistently kept up with him. He was the only one that would stop the chase in favor of catching more dangerous criminals. At the end, Kaito was usually free to go, unless he had ticked the small detective off by flirting with Mouri Ran. Out of all the people Kaito interacted with, either as himself or KID, Kaito trusted Kudo the most.

That was not going to be a fun conversation, the magician sighed. He began gathering up the papers that were strewn about the room, sorting through them to find anything that was more important for Kudo to have than Kaito. He took photos of them with his phone, using an app to convert them to pdfs. He’d give the hardcopies to the fake child.

Kaito stared at the bundle, considering it for a moment. It wasn’t thick, since it was just general information on companions. They didn’t know what Kudo would be or what the difference between him and others of his species would end up being. If he repackaged it right, one of his doves would be able to carry it to the mini-tantei. Not far, Kaito would have to go to Beika after all, but far enough that Kudo wouldn’t be able to find him.

Decision made, Kaito called Kichi to him. The dove that Kudo had helped take care of had always remained fond of the detective. She was Kaito’s first choice whenever he needed to send a dove to watch Kudo. There was no chance that she would let the detective slip by her, like the others had done a few times.

He never used her in heists. It felt too much like cheating to him.

That done, Kaito locked up his house and started for the train station.

This was going to be an interesting development.

* * *

Conan had been sitting in the empty Mouri Detective Agency doing his makeup work when the soft tapping came from the window.

He looked up. Sure enough, Kichi was sitting there with a bundle of papers, waiting to be let in.

This wasn’t the first time KID had sent the dove to him. Conan had received a few returns of the jewels the thief successfully stolen this way before. Nakamori-keibu was basically on Conan’s speed-dial at this point. This wasn’t a heist note or a returned jewel. This was something different.

Conan felt a bit of apprehension as he opened the window. Kichi flew in, taking her usual place that Conan kept stocked with bird treats. Having Ran in the know made leaving them on the high shelf easier.

Explaining why Conan had a feeding station for a bird that belonged to KID was a bit harder. She’d eventually agreed to leave it be.

Despite everything that KID had done in the short time Conan had known the thief, the shrunken detective held a certain trust for him, after the first few heists. KID was determined to remain nonviolent, going so far as to modify a taser to work on kids when he needed Conan to remain unconscious. The small detective was going to get the story behind that one day. KID had never used that taser before or after that heist, which meant that there had been something significant happening behind the scenes for him to have resorted to the taser.

He picked up the papers, left on the table by the bird. One day Conan would figure out how KID had trained his birds this well.

There was a note on top.

_Tantei-kun,_

_I suspect that this bundle is going to explain a few things that have been bothering you. Sorry in advance._

_-Kaitou KID (kid doodle)_

Conan frowned, not liking the tone that note had. KID rarely, if ever, apologized for something. He hadn’t even apologized for kidnapping him and stuffing him in a suitcase to smuggle him out of the country. (Conan would really like to know how he had even managed that in the first place. By all rights, they should have been caught by airport security. Random checks should have been enough.)

He unraveled the bundle and unfolded the papers within. At the top of the first page, the words ‘White Phoenix Companion: the role that they have in the balance of society’.

Companion? Conan frowned and kept reading.

_With the appearance of a new type of phoenix, it was discovered that the phenomenon that created the white phoenix wasn’t contained simply to the chosen human._

_Every phoenix that exists is given a task that they are bound by magic to complete. The white phoenix is no exception, though their task is to prevent apocalyptic events from disrupting the natural balance of this world that we live in. A vastly greater danger than the tasks that most phoenixes are given. It is with no surprise that the white phoenix is gifted with a companion – a partner, in more accurate terms._

_Unlike the white phoenix, this partner is not consigned to a single species. Of the three white phoenixes in existence, not a single companion is of the same species. A kitsune, a sphinx, and an undine have all risen from humans with no blood relations to those creatures. All of them have had a mutually beneficial relationship with the white phoenix who rose._

_The type of creature that the companion becomes is determined by what creature will be best suited to help the phoenix in their task. They also develop abilities outside of what the species is known for, abilities that make them better suited to the task of their phoenix counterpart._

_Since this phenomenon has only been repeated three times, there is very little data on how the companion is chosen other than their relationship with the phoenix. It is theorized that the chosen partner has to have a deep bond of trust with the phoenix from before their awakening._

He put down the papers, hands shaking as he tried to sort through the small amount of information that he’d gained. There were a few more pages. On the last page, there was a handwritten note.

_Tantei-kun,_

_I think you’ve probably figured out just what these papers mean for you. I’m sorry. I had very little choice in the matter, same as you. If given the option, I don’t think I would have chosen anyone for this role. All I know is that the changes happen to both at the same time. Two months ago, am I right?_

_I would have been in touch sooner if I hadn’t had this dropped on my head yesterday. I needed time to process and figure out who this ‘companion’ would be. I suppose it would have taken me less time if I hadn’t just woken up from being dead less than a week ago. If you hear about a driver involved in a hit and run on the news, don’t be surprised if he ends up covered in glitter and blindingly pink._

_I sent Kichi off with this as soon as I connected the dots to you. Out of all the people I know, you’re about the only one I trust to work in the shades of grey for the greater good. Which is probably why it’s you._

_We need to talk in person. I’ve got a lot to explain and you probably have questions. I know that you have the number of the burner phone from the Mystery Train. After you’ve read through these papers and have processed it, text me a location and time._

_-Kaitou KID (KID doodle)_

Conan stared at the note, very much wanting this to be a trick. Even if doing something like this was extremely out of character for the white clad thief.

Except that this matched up with what Haibara had found in his library. After the Latin translation was back, they had all read through what it had to say. While somethings matched up, there were a lot of missing pieces.

Conan’s shapeshifting ability was not among the listed magics of the Black Dog. Black Dogs were born, as well, not made like he had been. There was magic in the Kudo family line generations ago, but nothing that was related to the Black Dog. If anything, Conan should have been a truth-seer. An ability that he didn’t have in the slightest, not in the way that truth-seers usually manifested. Seeing dead spirits wasn’t usually an indication of that. Nor was being able to smell if someone died maliciously.

His mother was from a completely magicless family, so it hadn’t come from her side either.

There was no logical reason that Conan was a Black Dog. No logical reason except the papers in his hands.

KID was a white phoenix and becoming one had meant that Conan was a Black Dog. The timing, two months ago, was exact. Not that KID had done it on purpose if the thief hadn’t lied. This had been thrust on him as well.

He read over the papers, taking in all the information as thoroughly as he could. Ran would be gone for a full night and Kogoro wouldn’t be back until late. That left Conan alone in the agency.

The risks of bugs meant that they couldn’t talk here freely, not about something like this. The regular sweep had turned up empty each time, yet he couldn’t shake the feeling that talking here would be a mistake.

With new information, Conan decided to trust the feeling of unease that he’d not been able to fully explain. Especially since it was only ever triggered by the supernatural subjects. Even talking about who he was didn’t seem dangerous when it was only himself and Ran.

That meant the unease came from the magic itself, likely the magic that had changed both Conan and the thief into what they were. He opened his phone and text Ran first. ‘Going over to Agasa-hakase’s!’ he typed. ‘Hakase had a new invention he wants to show us!’

Code that they had come up for whenever Conan needed an excuse to follow a new lead. He opened his Shinichi phone. ‘New lead of my condition. Fill you in if I can. May have secrets belonging to someone else that I can’t divulge.’

He sent them both at the same time, letting her know that it wasn’t urgent. A simple code, one that no one else would expect. Which is why he’d come up with it. After that case where he’d been kidnapped and the kidnappers had used his phone to cover it up, Conan wanted to make sure that it wasn’t repeated. Without both phones, Ran would know that it was someone else pretending to be him.

He closed his Conan phone, scrolling through his contacts on his Shinichi phone. ‘That bastard’ wasn’t hard to find. He might have been a bit annoyed after Singapore.

‘Kudo Mansion, 2030’

KID would know what time that was, he’d used it before in a heist note. Anyone else would pause before making the connection. It wasn’t something that was used as often as am/pm was.

The phone vibrated as the thief texted back an emoji of his signature doodle. Conan didn’t know if he should be amused that such a thing existed.

Ran texted back a simple ‘be safe’ a moment later.

It was a good thing that Sabaru was currently on a two-week vacation, the teen thought as he gathered up his skateboard. The man was following a lead on the BO and would be out of contact as he followed it.

With the other man living there, the house was completely bug free and filled with signal blocked devices that made bugs impossible when activated. The control panel was hidden in one of the secret compartments that his father had filled the house with. Conan had the activation key. While it would make it impossible to use cell phones as well, it was a small sacrifice to ensure they went unheard.

Conan locked the agency up as he left, a note for Kogoro on the man’s TV so he wouldn’t miss it. In recent weeks, Otchan had started to get a bit overprotective of him. Likely in response to the last time Conan had been left alone almost ended up murdered.

He wasn’t sure how he felt about the change of behavior. It was going to end up being necessary to tell the man who he really was. Conan had the feeling that Kogoro wouldn’t stand by idly if Conan 'went to live with his parents’ after the BO was taken down.

A problem for another time. Right now, he needed answers.

As soon as he was on the sidewalk, he jumped on the skateboard and headed for his home.


	4. Chapter 4

Kaito hadn’t expected Kudo to want to meet so quickly. Kichi had returned rather quickly, a bit happier than before. He was pretty sure that the mini-tantei had taken to feeding her at some point, as she always came back with more energy than she’d left with. Not a bad thing, since Kichi was trained to only eat as much as she needed. There would be no getting overweight for her.

Unexpected was probably the right thing to say about it. Just like everything else about Kudo Shinichi, the magician thought with affection.

Tantei-kun was by far his favorite critic. Nakamori-keibu was a close second. He’d grown up with the man and watched him plot KID’s downfall. It was hard not to enjoy messing with the man.

Hakuba was becoming a close third as time went on. His classmate had started loosening up recently, becoming less fascinated in following the rules to the letter. He’d never be like Tantei-kun, willing to see the grey, but he wasn’t going to put Kaito on the same level as thieves that hurt others anymore. A fantastic improvement.

Kaito was going to have to tell the detective something soon. Hakuba knew that he was a newly awakened supernatural, he just didn’t know what he was. If that remained, the detective could potentially make Kaito’s life much more difficult than it already was. He was going to have to figure out what to tell him and what to keep out in the next few days.

KID would remain out. Hakuba would connect the dots. The blond was too smart not to. That didn’t mean that Kaito wanted to take the chance the British detective might tape the confession and use it as proof against him.

Kudo was the only critic that Kaito would trust to keep that information hidden if he knew that lives were on the line. The reason that Kudo was the detective that had been chosen as his companion, honestly.

None of the blood from his wounds in Singapore had been gathered to trace his identity. Kaito hadn’t even thought about that until he was safely back in his own home and Jii asked how he’d disposed of the bloodied bandages and first aid materials he’d covered in blood. Kudo hadn’t even tried to pull his fingerprints from anything that he’d touched. Kaito had been wearing false fingerprints, but Kudo hadn’t known that. He hadn’t even checked.

It was surprising, in hindsight, how much Kaito trusted the detective. The burner phone that he’d handed over to Kudo on that train was proof of that. Any other detective and Kaito would have tossed the phone into the sea. Instead, it was hidden safely the park closest to his house, placed into a false compartment hidden in a tree. One his father had hollowed out and built before his death that hadn’t had the chance to be used. The phone was the only thing that Kaito had placed there.

He arrived at Kudo Mansion at 10 pm, thirty minutes before the meeting time. Habit demanded that he scope the place out first, even if he wasn’t expecting problems. The burner phone was safely tucked into his pocket, awaiting any further correspondence from Kudo.

It would be the last time the phone was used. After this, Kudo would have his actual phone number. There was no point in keeping the burner to hide his identity if he was going to come out and tell the not-child his name, was there?

This, Kaito reflected, was why the taskforce was so sure that he was insane.

He’d never thought they were wrong, really.

The phone vibrated after fifteen minutes. ‘You might as well come in,’ it read.

Kaito wasn’t surprised that Kudo knew he was here. Shrugging, Kaito vaulted over the fence and scaled the building to the open window left for him. It was second nature, more natural then the door would have been.

Did that say something about him? Eh, probably.

Kudo texted again, telling him that he would be in the library, which was accessible by any floor. Kaito followed the directions to the secret passageway ( _why_ was there a secret passage on the second floor leading to the library??) and pushed the wall in the correct place for it to open.

He dropped into the library with ease, his ballcap staying firmly in place despite the fall. He’d gotten good at making sure his hats weren’t easily dislodged by wind force.

“You’re early,” Kudo said conversationally from the desk located in the room. It was covered in old looking books, journals, and papers.

“Habit,” Kaito shrugged. “Is it safe to talk here?”

“Signal blockers cover nearly the entire house. I activated them after I sent you my last text message,” Kudo sighed, pushing away from the desk.

It would have looked cute if another child had done it. With Kudo, it just looked strange. Children shouldn’t have such old looks on their faces.

“I want explanations,” the detective said, face hard. “It’s not something I advertise, obviously, however, my family has truth-seer blood. We have records of supernatural creatures and events dating back centuries. I know exactly what a white phoenix is, KID. What I don’t know is what you’ve been doing that could spell apocalyptic events.”

That would make this much easier, Kaito thought as he took a good look at those older items on the desk. He could make out what looked like a drawing of his bird form peeking out underneath an open book.

“There’s a gem called Pandora,” he said, deciding to just jump right into it. “It supposedly gives eternal life when a certain comet passes overhead ever ten thousand years. A comet that is going to pass over the earth some time in the next few years. I’ve been hunting it down to destroy it before an underground criminal organization gets their hands on it.”

It felt freeing to say that out loud and know that he would be believed. It was one thing when it had been Katrina and company. With Kudo, Kaito had always expected the fake-child to scoff if he heard the story.

Instead, the other teen had frozen with a rapidly paling face. “This organization,” Kudo asked, voice filled with intent. “Do they wear primarily black and seem to disappear without a trace before they can be caught?”

“Yes,” Kaito answered with surprise. “How did you-”

“What are their codenames?” Kudo blazed one, eyes narrowed at him.

“Snake and Spider are the only two I’ve seen,” he said, trying to figure out how Kudo could have known about these people. Then again, those assassins on the Mystery Train… “You’ve been dealing with them too.”

That was why the whole thing had bothered him. Kaito hadn’t been able to figure out what about the bombing had scratched at his hindbrain. It was the mannerisms and their movements. All of it was the same MO as Snake and the group who had killed his father. He’d been too busy recently to have really analyzed the entire event before now. Kudo’s accurate questions had prodded the information back to the forefront.

“A different faction,” he said, thinking out loud. “They used alcohol codenames on the Mystery Train. I should have connected the dots sooner. How many nondescript organizations that wear black and engineer ‘accidents’ can there be in Japan? Especially so close to each other. There would have been turf wars if they weren’t part of the same group.”

“Turf wars would mean bodies that couldn’t be explained away as an accident,” Kudo agreed, voice soft. “I’ve never heard of codenames like Snake or Spider before. It might be a red herring, designed to keep their connection hidden. I wouldn’t have connected them before this. Companions to the white phoenix almost always are working towards similar goals. My goal has been to take the Black Organization down.”

“With mine being keeping Pandora out of their hands,” Kaito nodded as he thought it over.

Not what he’d thought they’d be talking about right away, though Kaito wasn’t going to complain. This was something that would be a massive help. If Kudo already knew about these people, he might have information that Kaito didn’t. As a phantom thief, Kaito didn’t have the freedom of actively searching for information. The wrong stroke of a keyboard could lead them right back to him. Kaito needed them to think that he was his father. If they figured out that Toichi’s son was behind the ‘new’ KID, then everyone he knew could be killed.

Being impervious to death didn’t mean Aoko was. His mother would be safe enough, she knew how to hide herself. Jii wasn’t connected to him. Hakuba? He could be taken out with a bullet and have it blamed on his father’s enemies. Nakamori-keibu could die on a call to deal with a thief who didn’t have Kaito’s morals. Such a person could be bribed to kill a cop and take the fall. His classmates could be picked off one by one.

He had never been able to risk it enough to go looking.

Kudo didn’t have that problem, not in the same way. No one would believe that a child was going after them, not until it was too late.

Kaito started to feel hope rise in his chest. He’d pretty much given up on putting Snake and his ilk behind bars. If he had Kudo on his side, his dream might become reality.

“It would have worked,” Kudo said after a moment of silence. “If I didn’t know you and you never told me about this Snake, I wouldn’t have made the connection. Or I might have thought it was a daughter organization that was copying methods. The magic gem makes me think that I’ve been dealing with the human part of the organization while you’ve been dealing with the supernatural side. An organization this big isn’t going to remain at large for so long without picking up members of the supernatural variety.”

Anyone that remained unaware of the magic that filled the world wouldn’t have connected any of the dots correctly. A daughter organization would have felt right to those who might have uncovered Snake.

It was the magic that he was just starting to feels which whispered to him that the two groups were the same people. Nothing that would hold up in court, just enough to tell him that they weren’t wrong in their beliefs. It looked as if Kudo was having the same feeling from the irritation that was making his eye twitch.

“That’s not what we can here to talk about,” the other teen changed the topic. “Relevant but not conductive to this meeting. As a white phoenix, having you arrested is no longer a goal. It would be stupid to put you behind bars when what you’re doing might save society as we know it. The very balance of the world means that you need to keep finding Pandora and any gems like it. Maybe artifacts, depending on how your task develops. If we’re partners, then we need to have no secrets.”

Before Kaito go open his mouth and respond, Kudo kept going.

“My name is Kudo Shinichi. Over a year ago, I followed two men, codenames Gin and Vodka, and discovered them bribing an official. Gin came up behind me and hit me over the head with a metal pole. I was then force-fed a poison called APTX 4869. An experimental drug that couldn’t be detected. Instead of killing me, I ended up de-aged to six. Since then, I use a tranquilizer dart to solve crimes in order to make Mouri Kogoro famous enough that I might run into clues on the people responsible for shrinking me.”

Kudo paused, clearly thinking over something.

“Since then, I have made contacts with the FBI and two NOCs from officials in the organization. Kir and Bourbon, the later you know as Amuro-san. A defected agent, codename Sherry, has since sought protection with Agasa-hakase after taking the APTX 4869 when they imprisoned her,” Kudo looked at him. “You saved her life on the Mystery Train.”

“Your blond friend,” Kaito said, putting the pieces together in his head. “I was disguised as her adult self, wasn’t I?”

If she was tantei-kun’s age, that made her around his own age. He didn’t think that if she was around their age that she had been willingly working for those people. He couldn’t imagine choosing to die in order to escape those people.

How had she known to go to Tantei-kun, though?

He didn’t need to verbally ask. Kudo answered him without prompting. “She knew that I wasn’t dead. Since my body wasn’t discovered, a small group was sent out to confirm I’d died. She figured out what had happened and listed me as dead in their databases anyways.”

She was the reason that Tantei-kun was alive, Kaito thought with horror. “If they knew she was a traitor…”

Kudo looked away. “Vermouth knows,” he said, sounding almost afraid. “Another member, Irish, figured it out too. He died when he lost use to them, before he could update my status. Vermouth is keeping quiet for a reason only she knows. I think Bourbon, Amuro-san, suspects at least.”

A single word from a member of an underground criminal organization and Kudo would be dead. Kaito felt the blood leave his face at the implications.

“Every time I disguised as you,” he started to say.

“-You were outed as being a fake each time,” Kudo shook his head. “Even the police have noted that down in their files for each encounter. It won’t be a problem, not since you’re known as someone that can disguise as anyone convincingly. Vermouth has similar talents, as did Irish, so they won’t look at those instances too closely.”

That was probably meant to be reassuring. Instead, Kaito had to picture assassins that could pretend to be anyone well enough to pass as that person to those they knew. A frankly terrifying idea.

“We’re getting off track,” Kudo said after Kaito remained quiet for a bit too long. “This is something that we need to discuss later. Right now, we need to figure out just what happens now. I’ll compile a file about what I know and give it to you later. I request that you do the same, though I suspect you know less about your end than I do mine.”

Kaito could have felt insulted at that if he hadn’t known that Kudo didn’t mean it in the way it sounded. Kudo would have already come to the correct conclusion about what Kaito could do without risking drawing too much attention to himself. The detective was quick on the uptake most times, especially when it was something this important.

“You’re right. I take it that you know what kind of creature you are?” Kaito didn’t think that he really needed to ask. Kudo wouldn’t have been researching white phoenixes if he didn’t know what he, himself, was.

“Black Dog,” Kudo answered without hesitation. “With some differing abilities that can’t all be explained by truth-seer blood. Changing negate the APTX 4869 in my blood, which should have permanently changed me back to normal. Instead, I’ve gained the ability to go back and forth at will now. Useful, since I don’t have to go into hiding to prevent them from figuring out that I’m alive.”

Well then, Kaito thought with surprise. That would be insanely useful. “You could tail them as yourself and switch back to normal if you were spotted. There are places that kids your size can hide that adults wouldn’t be able to.”

“Aa,” Kudo agreed. “It isn’t something I want to use often, not if it gets back to them. I’ve been playing with the idea of partially telling those I know what’s going on. Ran pointed out to me that by not telling them I’m in danger, I risk them accidentally blabbing about me to the wrong people.”

“Mouri-chan?” Last the thief new, Mouri Ran had no idea about Kudo’s condition.

“We didn’t know that I would be able to switch between forms. We didn’t even know when I would switch back, just a rough estimate. Ran needed to be brought in, probably should have been a while ago, but this gave me a good enough reason to tell her without Haibara being able to talk me out of it,” Kudo smiled slightly. “It helps, having her know.”

Kaito wondered if telling Aoko everything would bring that smile to his own face. Aoko had been his best friend, possibly more, since they were little. Kaitou KID wasn’t just a thief anymore, it was Kaito’s way of saving the world (which still baffled him whenever that thought cropped up). He wasn’t breaking the law just for revenge anymore. Could he trust her enough to risk telling her the truth?

No, he thought, his gut sinking. Aoko would never understand why his first impulse had been to take KID’s place instead of going to the police. She wouldn’t be able to take the threat of Snake seriously, believing that the police could deal with anything. It was a hero-worship that not even Nakamori-keibu could break her from, though he’d tried. The only way Aoko would understand was if her worldview was shattered. Kaito never wanted to be the one that did that.

He couldn’t bring himself to be the one that showed her the grey of the world. If she decided to pursue a life as a police officer, then she would learn. Until that moment, Kaito wanted to keep her with that idealistic outlook for as long as possible.

Nakamori-keibu, on the other hand, would be someone that he could go to. With the codes that were included in the information packets, he could get both the keibu and the rest of the taskforce in on this. They would believe him now. The taskforce might be after his arrest, but Kaito knew even Nakamori-keibu would restrain himself in face of someone much worse.

They hadn’t gone on the hunt after he had saved Mouri Ran from the Sunflower museum. Kaito knew from listening to Nakamori-keibu afterward that they’d known he was still in the area. They had just chosen _not_ to go after him. It was the same decision that they’d made during the Ryoma heist.

They could have figured out another way to find him that didn’t have anything to do with wet footprints. Such as requiring everyone to be subjected to that dread face pinch before they could leave the building.

They hadn’t done that. Kaito had asked the keibu after why that was, under the guise of being the curious teen.

_“That damn thief is a nuisance to society,”_ the man had sighed. _“But he was in the right this time. Those people were planning on using him as an excuse to profit. KID didn’t have to expose them. He chose to, at risk to himself. It’s a rule on the KID taskforce, a holdover from his first appearances. When Kaitou KID decides to pull stunts like this one, we look the other way afterward.”_

The shades of grey, Kaito fought back a wistful smile.

There were many reasons that Kaito adored Nakamori Ginzo. This was just one more to add to the pile.

“I’m considering bringing in the taskforce, partially,” he told the smaller teen. “Not everything, just enough so that they know what’s at stake. It was different when I was just a thief acting like a vigilante. We’ve moved into much more dangerous territory. If they get caught off guard, it could be worse then having them know a bit too much.”

It was the same principle that had Kudo bringing in his own people partially. Hakuba would have to be one of the ones brought in, maybe fully. It would be better if Kaito could keep him from having the proof needed that Kaito and KID were the same person. Kaito would event try to impress that on the other teen. If he knew his classmate, however, Hakuba would demand the full story.

Kaito would have to approach the blond carefully. In stages.

He’d start with leaving a packet of information on white phoenixes for the blond to find. If Hakuba kept pursuing matters after that, Kaito would revisit bringing Hakuba in fully on his side of things.

“Is that wise?” Kudo asked, head tilted in curiosity. Kaito wondered if the fake child knew he looked like a confused dog when he did that.

“They’ve looked the other way before. Pandora isn’t just a personal goal anymore, finding it is now potentially world-ending. If they make it so I can’t check all the gems I go after…”

“They could accidentally prevent you from finding Pandora,” the detective finished. “You’re right. It won’t be much different from my relationship with the FBI, I suppose. They know what I know even if they don’t know who I really am. If you’re careful enough, it could be a benefit that they know what’s at stake here.”

“Exactly,” Kaito nodded.

This was going rather well for the most part. They wouldn’t be able to get this all done in one meeting, there was just too much to go over. There was just one more important piece that Kaito had been dreading since he’d sent that package earlier in the day.

Before he could second guess himself, Kaito took off his hat and removed the night glasses that kept most of his face obscured while still allowing him to see. Kudo sucked in a breath as Kaito looked at him, face bared for the world to see. “My name is Kuroba Kaito,” he said as if it weren’t a massive deal. “Pleased to meet you, Tantei-kun.”

He waited, his heart steady in his chest. It was as if all the nervousness he’d had over this moment had disappeared completely.

“Kudo Shinichi,” Tantei-kun said after a moment. “Pleased to meet you, Kuroba.”

They didn’t talk much after that, just enjoyed the company of the other. Around 2 am, Kaito left. He had school the next day, where he was going to have to start his plans for Hakuba.

He slept without trouble the moment that he got to bed.

* * *

Hakuba cornered him two weeks later, the papers clutched in his hands.

Kaito shouldn’t have been surprised, really. He’d been dodging the other teen ever since he’d stuck those papers in his bag, waiting for the inevitable questions that would follow.

“Kuroba-”

“Before you continue that sentence,” Kaito interrupted. “You should think very carefully about if you want to be brought in on this. If I tell you everything, you’re not just putting your life in danger, Hakuba. It’s the lives of everyone you know as well. Your parents, friends, extended family, all of them. It won’t matter if they’re in England or Antarctica. Are you willing to do that? Are you willing to pursue this if it means the death of everyone that you love?”

There were times where Kaito wished that he’d had that option. That he’d known what was going to happen the moment he decided to confront Jii-chan after finding his father’s workshop. Once he was in, there wasn’t any getting out. Even if his mother had convinced him to leave the monocle behind, Kaito would still have been in the same danger. They knew his father’s name. It would take one wrong move on Jii’s part and they would track Kaito and his mother down.

If he was in the crossfire anyways, Kaito was going to do his best to make sure that these people paid in full.

Hakuba had the chance to walk away, to pretend that this had never happened. He didn’t know it all; nothing that would make the organization target him.

“You were,” Hakuba said instead of answering, face hard.

Kaito laughed, not bothering to hide that secret bitterness he was so used to pushing down. “No,” he corrected softly. “I was the collateral damage of someone else’s choice. No matter what I did, my life was in danger.”

If he wanted Hakuba to make an informed decision, Kaito needed to drop Poker Face and show the other just what his choice could mean.

“I resent it every single day,” he told the other. It was something that he’d never said out loud, even alone. Saying it here and now felt right. “I wouldn’t be in this mess if they hadn’t made the choice to get involved. Everyone I know is at risk because of that choice, one that was made for me and without me. Can you do that to the people that you love? The path forward isn’t made of black and white but paved with a road of unending grey, Hakuba. There’s no room for morals that hold the letter of the law in high esteem.”

Kaito looked Hakuba in the eyes, watching the shock fill the brown. Whatever Hakuba had been planning on doing, it wasn’t what was happening now. Kaito could have told him that any plan made involving him ended up obliterated.

“These papers tell me that if you fail in whatever this is about,” Hakuba said after a long silence. “Then the lives of my family and friends are already forfeit. Aoko-chan is one of those friends and for some reason, so are you. I would not be the person I am if I walked away when a friend needed help.”

Kaito watched him, studied his face. “Not here,” he said after thinking it through. “If you want in, meet me at my house. I won’t risk being overheard, not about this.”

Without another word, Kaito turned around and walked away. School wouldn’t be over for another few hours, that would give Hakuba plenty of time to second guess himself.

It would also give Kaito time to figure out how he wanted that conversation to go.

* * *

Saguru knocked on the door to Kuroba’s house an hour after school had ended. He’d left the building not long after their conversation, wanting to have time to really think his options through.

Kuroba Kaito was one of the most infuriating people that Saguru had ever met. The magician was most definitely moonlighting as a thief. It had never made sense to him why that was. What caused a teenager his age to decided to become an international thief? Why Kaitou KID? Was it the magic? Or was there a connection between Kuroba and the first KID?

Questions that he’d always wanted answers to. He had decided early on that he would find those answers no matter what.

Now they were just at his fingertips and Saguru wasn’t sure that he wanted them. This was bigger than a thief, more than anything that Saguru had ever considered it would be. They were entering the realm of ‘world-ending’, where knowledge could mean his own death and the death of his loved ones.

Kuroba’s bitter warning had taken him off guard. The other teen had never seemed like someone that could express such emotions. Saguru had been blindsided by the change in behavior. He shouldn’t have been. Aoko-chan had told him about Kuroba’s Poker Face, that he hid what he was really feeling so far down not even she could tell for sure at times. If his childhood friend couldn’t read Kuroba, Saguru didn’t know why he’d fooled himself into thinking that he could.

The door opened and those violet eyes studied him. “Come in,” Kuroba said after a moment.

Once they were inside and Saguru had his shoes off, Kuroba led him into the dining room of his home. There was lemonade on the table with two glasses put out.

“We’re free to talk anywhere in here,” he told him without prompting. “I sweep for bugs regularly.”

Bugs? Saguru frowned at him.

“Take a seat,” Kuroba motioned. “Then I have a story to tell you.”

Saguru did as instructed, pouring himself a glass of the lemonade. He took a sip as Kuroba seemed to brace himself.

“It started with a dare,” he said after a moment. “When Kaitou KID first reappeared after nearly a decade of inactivity. I don’t know if it was fate that I stumbled into that hidden room that night or irony. I didn’t know before then that my father had been the first KID.”

Saguru sucked in a surprised breath.

“He died eight years ago. They said it was an equipment malfunction,” Kuroba laughed bitterly. “I knew it was bullshit. Dad was meticulous in checking his equipment. Officials didn’t care what I thought. Who listens to a child? His death was ruled an accident. Now there was someone running around dressed in his night outfit and I needed answers. I found his assistant on the roof of the heist that night. I got my answers.”

“It wasn’t an accident,” Saguru said, voice low as he put the pieces together.

“No,” Kuroba agreed. “He’d been murdered. His assistant had waited for the police to find the culprits, but they declared it an accident. He laid low for a few years before starting to look into Dad’s death himself. It was a dead end. That was when he got the idea to pretend to be Dad as KID in order to draw them out. Instead, I confronted him.”

“And took his place,” Saguru closed his eyes. “To draw them out. The odds of that happening-”

“Worked.” Kuroba smiled at Saguru’s stunned look. “I look enough like my dad, knew all the same tricks. They thought dad faked his death. They still do, even. I drew them out alright. And instead of being able to bring them to justice, I found an underground crime syndicate that’s multinational, who kill anyone and everyone they think might know about them.”

Saguru felt his breath hitch as he tried to figure out what that could mean. Did mean.

“They’d approached my dad, wanting him to find a gem for him. Pandora, a gem they believe granted someone immortality when a comet passed overhead. The comet appears every ten thousand years and we’re quickly approaching its return. Dad refused and started looking for the gem himself in order to destroy it,” Kuroba took a drink of his own lemonade. “They went after me the first time during the Blue Birthday heist. They didn’t realize that I bugged the gem and let them take it.”

“You’re looking for the gem now, aren’t you?” Saguru asked as he tried to accept what he was being told.

“I’m going to find it and smash it into little tiny pieces,” his classmate agreed. “Or throw it in a volcano if that doesn’t work. Let them try and get it _then_.”

“Why are you the white phoenix, then?” Saguru couldn’t help but ask. “Your father was after this Pandora for the same reason.”

“I don’t know,” Kuroba said, not looking at him. “I’ve wondered that since I was told what I was. Maybe it’s my age, maybe it’s because I became KID to get justice for my father. It could be any number of things. All I know is that Pandora needs to be found and they need to be stopped. Did you reach the point about the companions?”

Saguru nodded, leaning forward.

“I know who mine is. We’ve already talked. The syndicate is bigger than I thought, farther reaching. I’ve only been dealing with a branch, Hakuba. These people have infiltrated governments all around the world. There’s one in every industry, in every police department. They kill anyone who might know a single thing about them. That’s why I’m still pretending to be my dad. They knew who he was. The moment that any of them realize that I’m not him, my mother and I are dead. My assistant, who was my dad’s assistant, is dead. Maybe Aoko, Nakamori-keibu, possibly even our entire class,” Kuroba sighed, grabbing his own drink. “This isn’t a normal case. It’s all hands on deck. My partner has dealt with them more than I have. I couldn’t risk poking into it too much. If I made a wrong move…”

“Then they’d eliminate you just to be sure that you weren’t the new KID,” Saguru finished. This was nothing that he’d expected. This was bigger than anything that anyone had thought KID involved in. Kuroba was literally fighting a war behind the scenes of his heists. “I could have gotten you killed.”

He’d been vocal from the start that they were dealing with a new KID. He’d even publicly accused the magician. If the stand-in KID hadn’t appeared, Kuroba and his family would be dead. It was little wonder that the magician took pleasure in pranking him. Saguru could be the reason he was murdered.

“In the end, you’ve given me an alibi beyond Aoko,” Kuroba waved his worries away. “They won’t be able to ignore that I was seen at the same time as KID, in the same room. Everyone there can vouch that I’m not KID. If Akako hadn’t shown up, though…”

“Koizumi-chan?!” Saguru sent down his lemonade, trying to picture it. “She’s a witch, isn’t she? A real one.” That explained the broom. He’d never been able to figure that out before.

Kuroba nodded. “We have a complicated relationship,” the magician grinned for the first time. “I’m planning on having some fun at her expense. She deserves it for the attempted murder.”

“I don’t want to know about that, do I?” Saguru asked, feeling as if he’d stepped into the Twilight Zone.

“Probably not.”

Saguru sighed. Of everything that he’d expected to learn during this, it wasn’t what he had thought. “You’re going to have to bring the taskforce in on this,” he cautioned. “If they make a wrong move during heists, it’s not just you at risk anymore. This Pandora is dangerous enough that you’ve risen as a white phoenix. I may not know all the details about what you are now, true. I do know that if you fail at your goal, it will be more than just you who suffers.”

“I know,” Kuroba glared at him. “Do you think that’s escaped me? I can’t risk telling them who I am. I would rather you not know. If you hadn’t been there during that stupid accident and seen me die, I wouldn’t be telling you all of this. Not telling you would risk you having proof that I was KID without knowing the dangers behind it. KID and I can’t both be newly arisen white phoenixes, not when there are only four in existence including me.”

Saguru wanted to protest that, say that he wouldn’t have acted on the information, and knew that he couldn’t. If he didn’t know that outing Kuroba as KID would be risking not only his death but the world, then Saguru would have gone to Nakamori with this. Kuroba was telling him this because he couldn’t trust that Saguru would keep the information to himself without all the facts. “That’s fair,” he said instead of his first impulse. “I’m sorry.”

Kuroba nodded, not saying anything. His classmate looked exhausted, Saguru realized for the first time.

They sat there for a long time in silence.

“I’ll be sending a card to Nakamori-keibu, with the appropriate codewords. It will have a time and place in code on it. Make sure that they don’t bring in outside consultants beyond you,” Kuroba said nearly an hour later. “They’ll get an abridged version that I’ve told you. Nothing about my actual identity, just that I’m the second KID and Pandora. I’ll give them the same choice I gave you about the organization.”

Saguru stood. “I’ll make sure that they recognize the codewords,” he vowed. “Protocol dictates that in matters involving the supernatural, no outside consultant can be brought it.”

Kuroba nodded absently.

Saguru left him to his thoughts. He had more than enough information to go over in his own mind.

“Hakuba,” Kuroba called as Saguru put his shoes back on. “Spider is part of their organization.”

Saguru froze, looking up. “I see,” he said softly as the implications settled. For the first time, he understood just how far-reaching these people were. He'd always thought Spider as an assassin for hire. Maybe he even was.

If he was also a member of this syndicate, it meant that others in the public eye could be. Kuroba’s paranoia seemed much more reasonable with that in mind.

Saguru left with the feeling that nothing was ever going to be the same.


	5. Chapter 5

Nakamori Ginzo wanted to scream in frustration.

The card had appeared on his desk, as if from nowhere. At first, he’d expected it to be a heist note. He had the taskforce gather before he read it out loud.

That had been a mistake.

_Firelight illuminates the night._

The very first sentence on that card, one that every police officer was trained on during orientation. It was a codeword that activate the parameters of Protocol Youkai.

KID was supernatural.

Hence the frustrated scream that was threatening to come out. The rest of the task force seemed in various states of stunned. The older members were closer to Ginzo in their reactions.

_Ashes to ashes, dust to dust._

Phoenix. KID was a kami-damned phoenix. Ginzo didn’t know if he should start slamming his head against his desk now or wait until this disaster of a card finished.

Why now? If KID was a phoenix, there had been more than enough time to pull that card in the past. It explained his apparent age, Ginzo thought with a grumble. Much younger than Ginzo knew he should be.

_When the clock strikes at zenith, I will appear at the place where this all began and ended years ago. We need to talk._

_-Kaitou KID (KID doodle)_

“Midnight,” said as the British teen walked into the station. “Midnight is considered a power in certain magics, the end and start of a new day. It’s zenith.”

Great, now they had to deal with a teenager that knew too much. “Brat,” Ginzo began.

“I’m fully versed in Protocol Youkai,” Hakuba informed them stiffly. “I have had dealing with them in the past. It is referred to as Protocol Merlin in England.”

Ginzo sighed at that. There went any chance of keep the brat out of it. At least they weren’t going to have to deal with Edogawa or Mouri.

He knew better than to get consultants involved with things like this. Mouri was a former cop, he would know Protocol Youkai, but Edogawa was a child. One that seemed to appear on cases no matter who tried to leave him behind. He was also the one that was best at solving KID’s riddles which made going to Mouri pointless in the long run.

“You won’t be able to go with us,” Ginzo told the British detective.

“I’m aware,” Hakuba answered easily. “That’s why I received a separate message from KID. It appears that whatever this is, it is necessary for all regular heist participants to be aware of it. My own meeting is tomorrow.”

That did not make Ginzo feel better. It meant that this was far more serious than just KID outing himself as supernatural or as a phoenix. KID and serious didn’t sit right with him, not like this.

“Where this all began,” Sukikawa murmured. “What does he mean about that? KID was first sighted in France, so that can’t be it.”

“His first Japanese appearance?” Akuro offered hesitantly. “That’s where it would have begun for the taskforce.”

“That wouldn’t be the end, though,” Isamu shot down quickly.

Ginzo didn’t add in his own opinion, too busy trying to assure himself that he was wrong. The implications made his stomach roll and his head hurt. That feeling of dread that only ever appeared when the answer he was seeking was one that he didn’t want.

“You know where it is,” that damn brit said. At once, all the eyes of the taskforce turned to Ginzo.

“He’s referring to a heist note, one sent nine years ago,” Ginzo closed his eyes. “The last heist before he disappeared. The one that he never showed up to. The locations name was New Beginning’s and the jewel’s name was Fate’s End.”

“That place?” Isamu looked surprised. “It’s an abandoned building now. The owner went bankrupt two years ago.”

“That heist location was never given to the public,” Hakuba said thoughtfully. “The owner was the one that announced that KID hadn’t shown up. Theories were tossed around that he’d made a deal with KID and that was why the thief went underground for so long.”

Ginzo shook his head. “Man was counting on KID to show up. Fate’s End was a fake that he’d insured for half a million yen, enough to save his business. He was planning on blaming KID for switching it with a fake. When KID didn’t show up, the man practically broke down under questioning. It wouldn’t have been the first time someone has tried to take KID out before he stole their gem.”

“Ah,” the teen nodded. “That would explain it.”

“You said your meeting with KID is tomorrow?” Ginzo asked, frowning.

“Near midnight,” Hakuba agreed. “I haven’t figure out the location yet.”

He could press. KID was technically down as a human criminal at the moment. He wouldn’t, though.

KID was a menace and a nuisance, that was true. He was also useful, the most useful criminal that the Japanese police had. KID would not hurt anyone, and he frequently would provide information on worse criminals. The fact was, if KID was caught, he had enough contributions to the police on file that they might not be able to charge him. There had been talks among the higher-ups about making the thief a NOC. Ginzo had been approached more than once about that, as a possible handler if KID agreed.

“I expect you to be in on Thursday for a report,” Ginzo ordered instead. The surprise on the brat’s face was gratifying.

With that order, Ginzo had all but named Hakuba as a member of the taskforce. He’d fill out the proper consultant paperwork soon. He’d never been quiet about the fact that he felt Hakuba wasn’t part of their ‘team’. If KID sent this note to the Brit as well, that changed things. It meant that KID felt that Hakuba was part of this, enough to warrant a private meeting in compliance to police protocols preventing consultants being brought in on supernatural business.

“I will have one ready,” the teen answered, spine straightening.

“Dismissed,” Ginzo snapped. He waited until the teen had left before turning to the smiling faces of his taskforce. “Comments?” he asked drily.

None of them dared speak up. Ginzo felt a bit smug that he was intimidating enough for them to keep silent. “Good. Now we have nine hours until that meeting. Go home and get some sleep. I’ll fill out the proper paperwork.”

It said something about KID that they had a paperwork chain just for times where the thief called for private meetings. It didn’t happen often, the last time had been months ago when the thief turned over information that led to the rescue of a missing child. It was one of the reasons that KID was being considered for a NOC position. The thief already acted as one.

He didn’t wait for responses as he turned away. They knew the drill. He’d have to tell Aoko that they would need to have an early dinner if she wanted to eat together tonight. ‘Important lead on new case’- she would understand that he was meeting with an informant and wouldn’t push the issue.

One day, he would have to tell her that his informant, the one that had allowed the police to save so many people, was the Kaitou KID. Aoko saw things in black and white, not the grey that was the truth of the world. He’d tried to break her of the habit before and hadn’t gotten anywhere.

There would be a day that Aoko would be confronted with the grey they lived in. Until then, Ginzo couldn’t tell his daughter just what KID did for all those people. Why, even though he might one day catch the thief, KID wouldn’t be facing much jail time. Maybe not even any jail time. He’d let her keep her firm beliefs as long as he could.

He pushed those thoughts away and sat down. It would be better to get the paperwork done now rather than later.

* * *

They waited on the roof of the abandoned building. It was still in peak condition so there was no danger of the floor collapsing.

KID appeared at midnight on the dot. His blinding white suit was easy to distinguish in the dark.

Ginzo watched with trepidation as the Kaitou KID landed on the roof, glider turning into a loose flowing cape. He never had figured out how that worked. “We’re here,” he said unnecessarily. “What is this about?”

“What do you know about the white phoenix?” KID asked, voice heavy and serious. It was a far cry from his normal cheerful mannerisms. Enough that Ginzo didn’t bother breaking out his usual threats of violence and rage at the thief. This wasn’t the time to go through normal banter, not when that voice was used.

“Not a damn thing,” Ginzo said without pause. “I know that when I filed that paperwork with those phrases you stuck on them, the higher ups nearly fell over themselves with panic.”

He hadn’t included the time or location of the meeting, since there was precedence to leave it out. Those first two phrases seemed to mean something together that Ginzo hadn’t known. Beyond supernatural and phoenix.

The superintendent had streamlined paperwork to make KID an official NOC for division two, Ginzo as his handler. No energy wasted, no debate. No explanation. All the while, his bosses had looked terrified. No amount of questions had been met with an answer. Just a stony silence.

Ginzo wasn’t looking forward to knowing what had put that expression on their faces. “Congrats,” he said before the thief could say anything else. He needed to get this out of the way now. “Higher-ups have streamlined you as a NOC.”

The thief’s lips tightened at that. “I suppose I should have expected that,” was the answering murmur.

The taskforce was quiet behind Ginzo. They knew about the decision to make KID a NOC, Ginzo had called them all to warn them after he was released from his meeting. Springing it on them here had seemed like a bad idea. Hakuba was made an official member of the task force as well, once Ginzo informed them that the teen had received his own summons by the thief. He hadn’t even needed to file the paperwork himself.

It had been a day that consisted of a number of red flags.

“What, exactly, is this about KID?” he finally asked. “What could possibly have the higher-ups this afraid? And what, exactly, is a phoenix doing going around stealing gems?”

“That’s a complicated answer, Keibu,” KID sighed from across the roof. The lack of smile was disturbing, honestly. “It would take a very long time to go into all the details. You’ll find more information on what I am waiting on your desks in the precinct. Long story short, a white phoenix is not born, they’re made. A phenomenon that would take most of the night to explain, which is why you have information packets waiting for you.”

Ginzo wanted to press for details, demand more than that. There had damn well better be information at the station waiting for them or Ginzo would track the thief down and strangle him.

“What you need to decide is how willing you are to know what I’m going to say next,” the thief continued, eyes glinting underneath that hat and monocle. “There is no going back. Once you know this, you are risking not only your own life but the lives of your family. Everyone you know. This is not a game, not something I would have come to you with if things had been different. Circumstances have changed since then. This is your only chance to back out.”

Ginzo almost stopped breathing. This wasn’t a normal informant meeting, not like they’d had in the past. He’d known it would be different and yet, he hadn’t realized that KID would be coming to them with something that was this dangerous. Stupid of him considering the reactions at the station. “I have a feeling,” he said slowly. “That knowing the bare minimum would not do us any good. If I turned away from something like this, my daughter would murder me.” Aoko would never forgive him for ignoring something this big, not if she was the reason for him turning his back on this.

He looked at his men, watched their faces. “I will not hold it against any of you if you leave.”

“No one will,” the thief added, face severe.

No one moved a muscle. Ginzo had told them what the higher-ups had done when he’d handed over that card, meeting time and place blacked out as per-procedure. Every member of the taskforce was currently receiving hazard pay now, which was the standard procedure for dealing with supernatural elements.

They had been prepared for bad. This would be worse, however. KID’s grim, unsmiling face was enough confirmation of that.

“No one is going anywhere,” Isamu said after a few minutes of silence. Ginzo nodded to his men and turned back to KID.

The thief looked tired. “The first thing you should know is that I’m not the first KID,” he said.

Ginzo felt his lungs restrict and his heart drop in his chest.

The thief looked at them, face grimacing. “He was my father. Sometime before that heist nine years ago, he was approached with an offer. Steal a gem for this group and be rewarded. He asked why the gem was so important to be worth so much to them. They thought he was agreeing, or they wouldn’t have answered him, I don’t think. It’s called Pandora. Every ten thousand years, a comet passes overhead that will activate the gem. When that happens, it will ‘cry’ a tear that grants immortality. That comet will pass overhead sometime in the next few years and they planned on using the tear. My father was horrified and refused to find them the gem.”

Ginzo wanted to say something, interrupt. He couldn’t get his mouth to open.

“I don’t know if he knew who they were or what his refusal meant. He decided to find and destroy the gem before they could use it. They found him before he could. Found him and arranged an ‘accident’,” KID paused, looking at them. “He didn’t survive it.”

Ginzo wanted to throw up. He had thought, all those years ago, that something had happened to KID. It was why he’d be so hard on the owner of his heist back then. When that had turned up nothing, Ginzo had thought it had been something from his civilian life that kept the thief from showing his face. When KID had reappeared, he’d figured it had been something temporary.

This wasn’t the man he’d chased for nearly two decades. Knowing KID was a phoenix, he’d thought that was what had caused the absence.

The first KID was nine years dead and Ginzo had never known. Nine years murdered.

“Hakuba was right, then. About your age,” Isamu whispered, the only one among them that could still speak.

KID looked at them. “I won’t tell you how old I am. I won’t tell you my name. The less you know, the safer you are. The safer my surviving family is. These people believe that they failed killing my father. That is the only thing that is keeping them from wiping us out. I have alibis to heists, made sure that someone who they thought was me was seen at the same time I was in costume. Telling you my age or name could jeopardize that. I might be a phoenix, but my assistant is human. My family is human. They won’t come back if they die.”

Dear lord, Ginzo thought to himself. Just what had that bastard thief gotten himself and his family into? Gotten them all into now.

“These people kill anyone and everyone that might know about them. Your friends, neighbors, someone you talked to on the street once two years ago. All of them. Mysterious accidents, of course. Someone else to take the fall, in some cases.” KID studied them. “I needed them and you to believe that I was my father because that meant that we were safe. I started this to pull them out of hiding and found a crime syndicate that spans the world over. They have members in every government, every police station. People in the public eye, celebrities. They are _everywhere_. Not only that, but the syndicate is also at least four decades old. Four decades and not a single member has been captured.”

“Why tell us now?” Ginzo finally found his voice, pushing the bile that burned his throat back down. Kami above, this was beyond anything he was prepared for. Forty years? How had they never heard about these people before now! Surely someone had to know they existed! “Why now and not at the beginning? If this is so dangerous for us to know, what changed your mind about bringing in the police?!”

Alright, so he was angry. He just found out that there was a conspiracy come to life going on behind the scenes and that someone he’d considered a somewhat friend was murdered a decade ago by these people. That this probable child was running around pretending to be a dead man in order to keep these people from wiping his family out.

“Because about three months ago, I woke up as a bird even though I would have sworn that I was human,” KID answered easily. “A white phoenix is made. You’ll understand the significance when you read those papers. That changed things made this more than just my problem. It made Pandora more dangerous than I’d thought it. They cannot get their hands on that gem. I _need_ to be able to get to each heist target to check them.”

And the taskforce needed to make sure that KID could do that. Ginzo felt old for the first time.

KID looked at them, face expressionless for the first time. “You can’t repeat this to anyone. Family, friends, even your ‘higher-ups’. There is at least one who is just as good at disguise as I am. A friend of mine had one of these people who turned out to have been their mother’s best friend for years. If you want to discuss this, have a bug disrupter, and make some sort of code system to make sure everyone is who they appear to be. Paranoia is about to become your best friend.”

That was comforting.

“You’re going to bring Hakuba in on this?” Sukikawa asked, sharply. “If this is so dangerous, then why are you bring in a teenager?”

KID looked at him. “Because tantei-san has already encountered one,” KID sighed. “He’s also one of the most vocal that I’m a new KID. I need him to stop. If they believe him, I’m as good as dead. Mostly, it is because I’m telling you. Do you think these people are going to stop and ask Hakuba if he knows anything when they realize I’ve told you? They will assume that he knows and kill him anyway. You can’t ban him from heists, either. That will be a change that they may take to mean you know that heists are dangerous. In short, I have no choice _but_ to tell him.”

Ginzo closed his eyes as the scope of this started to sink in. In a perfect world, Hakuba would never show his face at a heist again. If Ginzo had known any of this, he never would have allowed the paperwork to make the Brit an official member be filed. And that would have been a mistake. They couldn’t change their behavior. There were eyes everywhere. It was a very good thing that KID’s status as a NOC would be off record. Paper files that couldn’t easily be searched. The only other copy would be hidden in Ginzo’s office in the false compartment of his desk where all confidential information lived.

There was nothing to be done about it now.

“As a NOC, there’s a burner phone that is sitting in the secret compartment of my desk,” Ginzo said, keep his voice purposefully steady. “I know you know about it.” A few heist notes had appeared there before. “It is untraceable and registered as belonging to a elementary student. That will be the new primary contact outside of heists.”

Notes were dangerous, could be misplaced.

“It only texts my number and will only receive texts from me. No outside numbers. And the contact on my phone is under my daughter’s name. I’m sure that you’ll be able to add your own safety measures to it.”

KID nodded. “I’ll retrieve it by tomorrow.” The thief turned then, facing the direction that he had come.

“If they kill everyone that knows or might know about them,” Hiroshi began, his voice wavering slightly. “Why didn’t they kill you and your family?”

KID paused, turning back to them. A small smile formed on his face. It looked right to see something of a smile there. “They made the mistake of thinking that my father was the dangerous one. They didn’t do enough research on my mother. The Phantom Lady is not to be trifled with.”

With that, KID jumped off the building.

There was silence for a moment.

“Did he just…?” Isamu asked after a moment.

“I wonder what that relationship was like,” mused Hiroshi.

Ginzo wasn’t drunk enough to deal with this shit.

* * *

Mouri Kogoro, despite popular belief, was not a complete moron.

Oh, he was no genius. Not like the Kudo brat or the Osakan brat. He had spent years as a cop, however, and he’d been a damn good one. Good enough to open his own detective agency, even before Kogoro had gotten famous.

So, when Ran brought him a tiny version of the Kudo brat, Kogoro was suspicious. Mostly of his parentage, admittedly. No one that looked that close to an exact copy could be just a relative, it wasn’t possible. Maybe if there had been differences, he would have bought it, but he was identical. Kogoro had dug out the old photo albums to make sure it just wasn’t a trick of his memory.

He was pretty sure that the kids ‘mother’ was Yukiko in disguise. It was just the sort of crazy thing that Yukiko would do and would explain why the boy hadn’t recognized her at first. As he said, Kogoro wasn’t dumb.

You just got used to things when your closest friends were insane people that made KID look normal.

Huh, maybe that explained why Conan seemed to be so good at picking the disguised thief out.

Yeah, he’d been suspicious.

Then he’d forgotten that in favor of trying to figure out what strange force of nature was causing him to pass out and solve cases in his sleep. That wasn’t normal, right? His doctor assured him that it wasn’t normal.

There was also no reasonable explanation for it in all the tests and blood work that Kogoro had done.

For all that Kogoro wasn’t dumb, he probably should have put the clues together sooner. He would like to say in his defense, it wasn’t exactly something your mind jumped to first conclusion. Why would a kid be tranquilizing him in the first place? It had taken him waking up during one of ‘his’ deductions to figure it out.

Edogawa Conan was not a child, that much Kogoro was positive of. He was pretty sure he wasn’t a secret child of Kudo Yusaku and Kudo Yukiko either. The fingerprints he lifted off of one of the brat’s cups proved it.

Somehow, the Kudo brat had gotten himself shrunk back to age six and was using tranquilizing darts to knock Kogoro out and solve cases. Probably because no one wanted to listen to someone that looked like a six-year-old, honestly. If he hadn’t seen the kid out of the corner of his eye and gotten those fingerprints, Kogoro would think he was insane.

(Why his first solution was to tranq Kogoro, the man didn’t know. He might have found it more outrageous if Kogoro hadn’t been a long-standing friend of the Kudo’s. It was just proof that Shinichi really had inherited his mother’s brand of crazy.)

That had been only a few months after the brat had moved in with them. Strangely, knowing what the brat was doing had made him like the kid _more._

Kogoro started being less hard on the kid. He didn’t send him out of the room for murders anymore, mostly because it was a moot point. Even before this, Kudo had seen a fair share of bodies. Hell, at this age originally, Kudo had seen way more bodies than any child should ever encounter.

And Kogoro took a certain amount of glee out of watching the teenager being dragged around by a bunch of real school kids. It was prime entertainment.

(He tried to ignore the way that Kudo looked happier than he had when he was this way. Pushed away the knowledge that other than Ran, Kudo hadn’t _had_ friends when he’d been this age. He definitely didn’t start a newer, secret photo album of these moments that he planned on giving the elder Kudo’s at some point.)

The way the boy treated him had been changed as well. There was more respect and honest affection in the way he said Otchan. More respect and affection than had been there when Kudo had actually been in elementary school. He wasn’t taking advantage of this to see Ran nude either, if his struggles to get away whenever his daughter wanted a shared bath was any indication. The first time Kogoro took pity on the boy, Kudo had looked close to relieved tears.

The efforts he went to make Ran feel better about Shinichi’s own absence were endearing as well.

Of all the ways Kogoro thought that Kudo would earn his approval when it came to Ran, he hadn’t really expected ‘de-aged to seven and in hiding’ would be one of them.

That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to have a long talk with the boy. Mostly about self-preservation. As in ‘don’t jump off of skyscrapers that are exploding, you moron’ and ‘if they have a gun, pissing them off enough to shoot you is not the correct answer’. Kogoro was glad he slept through the little brat getting thrown out of a fucking blimp because his blood pressure didn’t need that nightmare.

(It visited him anyways and there was no KID to catch the little idiot this time.)

The less said about the various kidnappings, the better.

(He had nightmares about the hearse getting crushed with the boy still unconscious inside of it. They would never discover the body.)

Damn it all, Kogoro was going to beat common sense and self-preservation into the teenager if it was the last thing he did. He really hoped that Yusaku and Yukiko didn’t know what their son was actually getting up to. Kogoro was already struggling to keep his opinion of them complimentary.

Whichever of them had taught Kudo that it was fine to go after murderers with no help or backup was going to get the other side of his tongue. He might even just shoot them at this point. He was pretty sure that Megure, who had run the kid's prints for Kogoro, would lend him his gun.

Just because ‘Conan’ was actually a teenager (nearly adult, now) didn’t mean it was fine to leave him behind in Japan when there was clearly something happening! You don’t just wake up one day as a child, it had to have happened somehow.

Then the brat had started acting weird and so had Ran. After a few days of not talking to each other, suddenly they seemed to be joined at the hip. Kogoro suspected that something had happened, and Kudo was outed to Ran.

It worried him a bit. Kudo had kept Ran out of it for a reason. It wouldn’t be just anything that forced the kid to come clean with his daughter.

It wasn’t long after that Kogoro noticed changes in the kid. Quicker than before, stronger than before, able to do things that children shouldn’t be able to do. He’d seen the boy accidentally shatter a cup by setting it down too hard, for Kami’s sake.

He did some snooping while both of his kids (fucking hell, he’d adopted Kudo Shinichi, hadn’t he?) were at school. He found the papers hidden under Shinichi’s cot.

That note at the end was cherry on the cake. Kogoro sat starting at the documents for a good while, hands clenching in his lap.

Protocol Youkai, Kogoro thought with bitterness. It had been Protocol Youkai that had once let a child murderer go free from justice. Kogoro had refused any case to do with the supernatural since. Now it was back and one of his kids was being directly affected.

Another thing was that Kaitou KID knew that Kudo Shinichi was Edogawa Conan. Kogoro had wondered after a few of the incidents that KID had appeared as Shinichi. There hadn’t seemed to be a reason for it other than to piss ‘Conan’ off. They’d apparently interacted enough that KID had come to trust Shinichi, to the point that whatever magic had affected the thief had affected Kogoro’s kid.

Damn him, he was Kogoro’s kid now. There had been too many instances that Kogoro had found himself panicking in the same way he did when Ran was hurt for the older detective to pretend otherwise. Hell, Shinichi had gone to some terrifying lengths to get his name cleared not too long ago, from what Kogoro could tell. The kid had looked tired and beat up, with Ran spouting how Kudo had gotten Kogoro’s charges to be dropped by solving the case.

One plus one equaled two, last he checked.

He carefully put the documents back where he found them, using a picture on his phone to make sure it was exact. A detail off and Shinichi would know Kogoro had found them. Damn that kid’s memory sometimes.

Kogoro should confront him with this information, demand answers. Whatever Shinichi had gotten involved in, it was becoming clear that it was far more dangerous than waking up as a kid again one day. If Kudo’s parents knew what it was, they weren’t doing enough.

He wasn’t going to confront him.

When Shinichi was ready, he’d tell him. Kogoro was pretty sure that he’d grown on the little brat just as much as ‘Conan’ had grown on Kogoro. If he confronted him, it would set their relationship back to the beginning, most likely. Damn if Kogoro wasn’t going to make sure at least _one_ adult was keeping an eye on the suicidal idiot. Agasa did not count.

(He had the horrible suspicion that Shinichi was the one that was keeping Agasa in check and not the other way around.)

When both Ran and ‘Conan’ came back from school, Kogoro merely grunted a greeting from his desk, as if he had never moved from it that day.

* * *

Ginzo was the first one done with the papers KID had left for them all. By the end of it, he was hoping that it was nothing but a sick joke. There was no way that this wasn’t something that had been engineered to mess with them all. The very idea that the thief had been chosen for something like _this_ was hard to believe.

He had the horrifying thought that it was completely true. Every single bit of it.

Whatever that syndicate was planning on doing with that gem, it was a threat to the entire world. A threat that some higher power had decided to choose _Kaitou KID_ to combat. KID was what was standing between them and some horrible apocalyptic events.

KID and someone that he trusted enough who would become his companion. None of the taskforce or Hakuba, if he was reading the signs right. That gave them a third party to keep an eye out for.

Thank small mercies that KID had included the phrase that his partner would use to identify himself with. Ginzo would have driven himself nuts trying to figure out who this partner was otherwise. 

If this had come from any other criminal, Ginzo would have dismissed it as crazy. What sort of higher power would choose a criminal to save the ‘balance of the world’, whatever that meant. Maybe a decade ago, Ginzo would have laughed himself silly at the very idea of it being KID as well.

Except this wasn’t the same KID that Ginzo had dealt with back then. This was his son who was going around stealing things in order to get justice for his murdered father. Not a thrill seeker that was stealing for kami knows what reason the bastard had for filching gems. Not someone that married the Phantom Lady, of all people.

He tried really hard to not wonder about how that relationship worked. Ignorance was bliss, in this case.

There were a lot of signs, looking back, that they weren’t dealing with the same person. Ginzo had dismissed them as being outrageous or changes that had occurred during the 8-year absence. People didn’t stay the same after 8 years. Easy enough to use that to explain why KID had decided to turn in other criminals when he saw them committing crimes. Why the thief suddenly had more hard lines and seemed to take imposter personally and would answer fake challenges in order to help his pursuers.

Yes, he knew about Jirokichi’s dog getting stuck in that impossible to crack safe. The man had come clean after he led the lot of them away so the thief could work. Ginzo would have screamed himself hoarse at the man if he hadn’t understood the problem. It wasn’t like Ginzo would have just left the dog in there.

KID showing up and rescuing the dog hadn’t bothered him then. They’d never had a situation like that with the first KID, so it hadn’t seemed out of character for the person that he knew.

He wondered if the first KID would have done the same thing.

Ginzo didn’t know if he was projecting when he thought the answer would have been yes.

The fact of the matter was that KID, the original 1412, was nine years dead. He’d lost a friend nearly a decade ago and hadn’t known it.

This was a mess. A giant, ugly, horrid mess.

“We can’t let them get this Pandora,” Isamu said, breaking the silence that the taskforce had found themselves trapped in.

Ginzo snort, throwing his head back as he drank down the saki in his cup. He’d needed it after everything that he’d just read. The things that they had all learned.

“Stating the obvious, Isamu-kun,” Makoto answered. “I don’t think a person here hasn’t already figured that out.”

Mumbles of agreement sounded around them.

“Kaitou 1412 is dead,” Sukikawa said heavily. He’d been one of the original taskforce members. “That man once held a fake heist so that I could be at the hospital when my daughter was born.”

That had been a night, Ginzo remembered fondly. The maniac had set up a fake heist right next to the hospital so that when Sukikawa’s wife went into labor, the man would be ten minutes away. It was early into the thief’s career and they hadn’t gotten to the point where the taskforce members weren’t being used on other jobs. Sukikawa had been supposed to be on a stakeout during the time. He’d been worried that his wife would give birth to the baby while he was on the job.

How KID managed to time the heist exactly with Sukikawa’s wife’s labor, no one had ever been able to figure out. The paperwork after there had been worth it.

When Ginzo’s wife had first come down with cancer, the first KID had kidnapped him from the office and dumped him in his wife’s room. Whenever Ginzo spent too long away from her, KID repeated the offense, going so far as to ducktape him to the hospital chair. When Aiko had died, KID had shown up with a bottle of wine and a promise that there wouldn’t be any heists until two months after the funeral.

He hadn’t wanted to believe that eight-year hiatus had been a sign that KID was dead. He jumped on any and every sign that this new KID was his old frenemy. To the point of denial, he could admit if only to himself.

Some part of him had always known that he wasn’t dealing with the same KID. It was a suspicion that he’d had, one that he had never pursued before.

A suspicion that he wasn’t going to pursue now. Not yet. Ginzo didn’t think he could handle it if the truth had been staring him in the face for so long. He really didn’t want to even think about having that conversation, no matter how much he thought he was going to need to.

There was time for that later.

Right now, they were all mourning for a lost friend.

“Pour me another one,” he ordered gruffly.

* * *

Kaito wanted to cry once he got back to his room, sans his nighttime outfit. The phone was clenched in his right hand, carefully retrieved from its hiding place.

He hated that he had to bend the truth in order to make sure that the taskforce didn’t connect Kaito to KID. He hated that he couldn’t take off the mask and monocle. Kaito had grown up with the older taskforce members. Isamu had helped him with his math homework whenever Kaito and Aoko were having trouble. Not often, Kaito had caught on to most parts of the subject which enough, yet Kaito treasured those memories.

Having them standing there, pretending not to be affected by his dad’s death, had hurt. Kaito had wanted to throw the hat off and tell them everything.

He couldn’t. Not just because he’d be risking it getting back to Snake. He couldn’t because they wouldn’t be able to stand back if they knew who it was underneath that mask. The unknown child of a long-dead sort of friend was one thing. Kaito, who most of them had seen grow up?

One slip up and the whole thing would come crashing down. Kaito was a sort of friend to them, the KID they had been chasing for the past year. They would trust him enough to listen to him and he was going to have to accept that.

His status as a NOC was a bit of a surprise, though Kaito had known enough to know that the police had been considering it in the past. Kaito had turned over enough information on true criminals that it made sense to consider the idea. If his modus operandi had been different, they would have just listed him as an informant and been done.

Nonviolence and willingness to cooperate in times of danger gained more leeway than one would think.

Kaito sighed and flopped onto his bed. He was exhausted. Instead of sleeping or doing the homework that was waiting for him, Kaito grabbed his phone and scrolled through the contacts.

Kudo picked up on the second ring. “Moshi moshi.”

“It’s done,” the thief sighed. “The taskforce and Hakuba are onboard.”

Kudo merely grunted in acknowledgment before hanging up. Kaito had heard voices in the background so he wasn't too surprised. Kudo would call back when he was alone for a more in-depth rundown. Until then, Kaito was alone with his thoughts.

Hakuba had been surprised. Kaito had planned on being vague, insinuating instead of coming out and telling the brit about what had happened to lead him into becoming KID. His instincts had told him that Hakuba would listen, now. That the Brit was to the point where he was willing to find the grey that had previously escaped him.

Kaito knew better than to ignore those instincts. The Brit had listened and heard what Kaito was saying in a way that he’d never have before. Maybe it was watching him die or maybe it was reading those pages Kaito had given him. Whatever it was, Hakuba hadn’t threatened to arrest him. No smugness at being proven right. Just somberness at the situation that Kaito had found himself in.

That bitterness at his dad for Toichi’s choices had been something that Kaito had hidden even from Jii. He’d never wanted to talk about how hurt he was that his father had risked going against these people without thinking about what might happen. Leaving behind only those recordings for him to listen through, not a single on Pandora. Kaito had to discover that himself.

Did he know that he was going to die? Was he preparing or had it been nothing more than a precaution of being arrested? Why hadn’t he left anything about the gem that had gotten him killed?

Kaito had made up the bit about his father’s reaction to Pandora. Kaito knew from written records in the room that someone had approached Toichi and he had refused the job. That it was against his father’s morals to complete it. Everything else had been spun from what he had learned during the Blue Birthday heist. It was a precaution to keep his identity safe. If Nakamori-keibu and the taskforce knew that the second KID had stumbled upon the truth, it might lead them back to Kaito.

He needed to make Kaito and KID as different as possible. It was the only way to keep himself and his mother safe. Chikage might be able to escape the grasp of the organization, but Jii couldn’t. Aoko couldn’t. Kaito’s new status might keep him safe, that didn’t mean that he could be loose with the full truth.

The risk wasn’t worth it. Even if having Nakamori-keibu knowing who he was would be a relief. Kaito wasn’t completely alone anymore, though. He had more than just his mother and Jii. Tantei-kun had compiled everything he knew about these people, adding in contacts with NOCs and the FBI.

One day he would get the explanation on how Kudo had convinced these people to bring someone that looked like a child into things. Kaito might be aware that Kudo was nearly eighteen in reality, that didn’t mean everyone was aware. He very much doubted that the FBI knew that. Or these NOCs.

Speaking of NOCs, Kaito wasn’t sure how he felt being one. There hadn’t been a list of any requirements of a NOC with the phone, though Kaito had gone in a filched a copy of his ‘contract’ from the office it was kept. The folder had been waiting to be buried in with the other files and was the only one with a sticky note labeling it. Kaito wasn’t sure if that was done by the police in order for him to find it or for the organization if they’d gotten wind of what was going on.

Either way, he’d copied the file using his hidden camera equipment for surveillance, removed the sticky note, and buried the file in the wrong cabinet under a different code. He’d be the only one that knew the location of it.

They had a redacted version of his meeting request on top. Further in were the other notes, some with information and some requesting meeting to pass on information, within them. The date of his status being changed to NOC wasn’t included. Probably they were going to claim that he’d been a NOC since his start under the mantle of KID. From what he gathered from the files, he wouldn’t be expected to do anything different from what he had been doing.

Exposing people that tried to use his name in order to commit crimes, pass information to the police, and ‘complete the duties that are his by nature’. Looking for and destroying Pandora, then.

Kaito sighed, pushing the file away and moving to leave the hidden workroom. There wasn’t going to be any good gotten from looking that paperwork over right now. His head hurt and he was exhausted.

School tomorrow was going to be rough. Akako had spent the last few days looking at him strangely. Kaito was pretty sure that she was going to corner him sometime soon, probably before the week was over. He wasn’t looking forward to giving this explanation more than once, though he wouldn’t have to explain what a white phoenix was to her, thankfully.

First thing first, he was going to pass out on his bed and get as much sleep as he could before he started working on how to fill in Jii-chan about what had happened in the weeks his assistant had been gone. He'd fill in Kudo when the other was able to call him back.

Maybe he should just make a tape recording to play whenever he had to tell someone the whole thing over again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, this is everything that I have written so far. I would have posted this with the other chapters but it needed a little more editing and I was heading to work right after I first posted this fic. I'm also in classes so those come first. I suspect that the next update will be sometime next month. Hope you all are enjoying this fic!
> 
> ~MisteryMaiden~


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